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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
5
pubmed:dateCreated
1991-12-2
pubmed:abstractText
Little is known about factors determining individual susceptibility to the physical complications of alcohol abuse but genetically determined differences in ethanol metabolism may be important. The oxidative metabolism of alcohol is catalyzed by alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase. Polymorphisms have been observed at two of the five loci encoding alcohol dehydrogenase subunits: ADH2 (producing three beta subunits) and ADH3 (producing two tau subunits) and also at the locus encoding the metabolically important form of aldehyde dehydrogenase, ALDH2. We have compared ADH2, ADH3 and ALDH2 allele frequencies in patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis (n = 59) and chronic pancreatitis (n = 13) with 79 local healthy control subjects. The different alleles were detected with allele-specific oligonucleotide probes after amplification of leukocyte DNA by the polymerase chain reaction. All patients and all but one control subject were homozygous ADH2*1, encoding the beta 1 subunit. No ADH2*3 alleles were detected. All 34 patients and 39 control subjects tested were homozygous ALDH2*1 encoding the active enzyme. ADH3 allele frequencies were different in patients and control subjects. ADH3*1 frequency: control subjects, 55.1%; cirrhotic patients, 62.7%; chronic pancreatitis patients, 65.4%. The difference between the patient groups combined and the control subjects was significant (p less than 0.05; G-test of Sokal and Rohlf) if it was assumed that the allele frequency in our control population was a reasonable estimate of our local population allele frequency. These results suggest that genetically determined differences in alcohol metabolism may, in part, explain predisposition to alcohol-related end-organ damage.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Nov
pubmed:issn
0270-9139
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
14
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
798-801
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1991
pubmed:articleTitle
Investigation of the role of polymorphisms at the alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase loci in genetic predisposition to alcohol-related end-organ damage.
pubmed:affiliation
University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Department of Medicine, The Medical School, United Kingdom.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't