Novel polymorphism of the 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP) promoter gene associated with asthma.
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.
Koshino
T
T
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan. koshino-phy@h.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Takano
S
S
Kitani
S
S
Ohshima
N
N
Sano
Y
Y
Takaishi
T
T
Hirai
K
K
Yamamoto
K
K
Morita
Y
Y
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
D058927:5-Lipoxygenase-Activating Proteins; C548592:ALOX5AP protein, human; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D001094:Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase