The Kashmiri population is culturally distinct with special dietary features owing to the temperate climatic conditions of Kashmir valley. This has habituated the population to preserve food in smoked, pickled and sundried forms which include considerable amounts of N-nitroso compounds (NOCs). These are known to cause cytotoxicity, DNA damage, mutation, unscheduled DNA synthesis and DNA methylation. All of these changes at molecular level are known to contribute to the pathogenesis of cancer. One of the prominent NOCs found in Kashmiri food is N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Here we review the occurrence of NDMA in sundried foods, dried fish, kehwa, traditional pickle, Brassica oleracia and tobbaco. We also discuss its possible role in the high prevalence of gastrointestinal cancers in Kashmir.

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Objectives: The aim of our investigation was to detect mutation or genetic polymorphisms in MGMT gene of esophageal cancer patients from Kashmir Valley (India) Methodology:The genetic polymorphisms or mutations in the coding exons 2, 3, 4 and 5 of MGMT gene were searched for in DNA samples from the frozen tumor tissues of 30 esophageal cancer patients from Kashmir. The PCR products were sequenced with fluorescently labelled terminators and separated on automatic sequencer. We developed a new PCR based RFLP approach for genotyping c.459A>G (p.Gly153Gly) variation in 71 esophageal cancer patients and 60 healthy controls. Results:Two somatic variations c.274 +4G>A and c.274 + 22G>A were identified in Exon3-intron 4 boundary. A novel germline variation c.459A>G (p.Gly153Gly) was found in the exon 5 of an esophageal cancer patient. This germline variation was not found in any of the studied esophageal cancer patients and healthy controls except the patient where it has been found by direct sequencing. Conclusion:We identified novel sequence variants of the MGMT gene in esophageal cancer patients from Kashmir valleyIndia.