Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research Research ERCC2, ERCC1 polymorphisms and haplotypes, cooking oil fume and lung adenocarcinoma risk in Chinese non-smoking females Zhihua Yin1,2, Meng Su1,3, Xuelian Li1,2, Mingchuan Li1, Rui Ma3, Qincheng He1 and Baosen Zhou*1,2 BioMed Central Open Access Address: 1Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, PR China, 2Key Laboratory of Cancer Etiology and Intervention, University of Liaoning Province, Shenyang 110001, PR China and 3Department of Internal Medicine, Liaoning Cancer Hospital & Institute, Shenyang 110042, PR China Email: Zhihua Yin - zhyin@mail.cmu.edu.cn; Meng Su - sumeng_1980@126.com; Xuelian Li - zimu0124@yahoo.com.cn; Mingchuan Li - lmingchuan@hotmail.com; Rui Ma - Marui0000@yahoo.com.cn; Qincheng He - qche@mail.cmu.edu.cn; Baosen Zhou* - bszhou@mail.cmu.edu.cn * Corresponding author Published: 14 December 2009 Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research 2009, 28:153 doi:10.1186/1756-9966-28-153 This article is available from: http://www.jeccr.com/content/28/1/153 Received: 17 September 2009 Accepted: 14 December 2009 © 2009 Yin et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background: Excision repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1) and group 2 (ERCC2) proteins play important roles in the repair of DNA damage and adducts. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of DNA repair genes are suspected to influence the risk of lung cancer. This study aimed to investigate the association between the ERCC2 751, 312 and ERCC1 118 polymorphisms and the risk of lung adenocarcinoma in Chinese non-smoking females. Methods: A hospital-based case-control study of 285 patients and 285 matched controls was conducted. Information concerning demographic and risk factors was obtained for each case and control by a trained interviewer. After informed consent was obtained, each person donated 10 ml blood for biomarker testing. Three polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Results: This study showed that the individuals with the combined ERCC2 751AC/CC genotypes were at an increased risk for lung adenocarcinoma compared with those carrying the AA genotype [adjusted odds ratios (OR) 1.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-2.52]. The stratified analysis suggested that increased risk associated with ERCC2 751 variant genotypes (AC/CC) was more pronounced in individuals without exposure to cooking oil fume (OR 1.98, 95%CI 1.18-3.32) and those without exposure to fuel smoke (OR 2.47, 95%CI 1.46-4.18). Haplotype analysis showed that the A-G-T and C-G-C haplotypes were associated with increased risk of lung adenocarcinoma among non-smoking females (ORs were 1.43 and 2.28, 95%CIs were 1.07-1.91 and 1.34-3.89, respectively). Conclusion: ERCC2 751 polymorphism may be a genetic risk modifier for lung adenocarcinoma in non-smoking females in China. Page 1 of 7 (page number not for citation purposes)