title: Novel polymorphism of the 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP) promoter gene associated with asthma.
abstract: The human 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP) gene is one of the key genes involved in the production of the cysteinyl-leukotrienes. We studied novel polymorphism of the FLAP promoter gene and attempted to clarify the relationship between this polymorphism and asthma. We sequenced the FLAP promoter region, containing the -170 to +46-bp sequence from the translational start codon, and found two homozygotes of novel alleles in the polyadenyl region which showed 21 A repeats and 18 A repeats, respectively. The frequency of the 21 A repeats was 52/71 (73.2%) in asthmatics and 39/71 (54.9%) in control subjects. The difference between these frequencies was statistically significant (P = 0.035). This is the first report of FLAP promoter gene polymorphism associated with asthma. Our data suggest that FLAP promoter gene polymorphism might play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of asthma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan. koshino-phy@h.u-tokyo.ac.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koshino
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitani
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohshima
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sano
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takaishi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morita
mesh_terms: D058927:5-Lipoxygenase-Activating Proteins; D001094:Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase / Q000235:genetics*; D001249:Asthma / Q000235:genetics*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D058927:5-Lipoxygenase-Activating Proteins; C548592:ALOX5AP protein, human; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D001094:Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase