The Impact of Genetic Polymorphisms on Genotoxicity (DNA Damage) Induced by Cigarette Smoke in Humans: A Systematic Review

The present systematic review aims to put together human population studies that include some relationship between genetic polymorphisms and genotoxicity as well as to evaluate the quality of the published studies induced by cigarette smoke exposure in vivo. The present systematic review was built according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria. Different genotoxicity assays were used by different authors, although the major goal was the genotoxicity assessment by means of micronucleus, comet, sister chromatid exchange, and chromosomal aberration assays. Also, different genetic polymorphisms were analyzed by different authors, being closely related to xenobiotics metabolizing and DNA repair genes. Our aim, therefore, was to collect these data so that a quality assessment could be properly carried out. Out of the 18 included studies, 15 reported genotoxicity due to cigarette smoking, and all of these reported some association between a genetic polymorphism and the aforementioned genotoxicity. Also, 14 studies were classified as either strong or moderate, which suggests the aforementioned findings can be trusted in regard to the studies' quality. Taken as a whole, the results suggest that genes associated with detoxification genes and DNA repair genes play a substantial role in the determination of an individual's susceptibility to genomic damage due to cigarette smoking.