Polymorphism of tumor necrosis factor-beta and alcohol dehydrogenase genes and alcoholic brain atrophy in Japanese patients.
BACKGROUND
Alcohol abuse can induce brain atrophy, but it only occurs in some alcoholics. Many inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) are produced rapidly in the brain by experimental or clinical injury.


METHODS
To investigate whether genetic polymorphism of TNF was related to alcoholic brain atrophy, we determined restriction fragment-length polymorphisms of the TNF-beta genes in 72 male alcoholics. Computed tomography was used to determine the severity of brain atrophy.


RESULTS
Digestion with NcoI and MspI after polymerase chain reaction amplification showed that the TNFB1 allele frequency was significantly higher in patients with brain atrophy than in those without brain atrophy (chi2 = 10.20, p = 0.0034). A multivariate analysis that included age, total alcohol intake, ADH2 genotype, and TNF-beta genotype showed that the ADH21/21 genotype and TNFB1/B1 genotype are independently associated with alcoholic brain atrophy. These findings suggest that the TNFB1 allele may be associated with alcoholic brain atrophy.
Yamauchi
M
M
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. yamauchi@fantasy.plala.or.jp
Takamatsu
M
M
Maezawa
Y
Y
Takagi
M
M
Araki
T
T
Satoh
S
S
Toda And
G
G
Saito
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications*; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase / Q000235:genetics; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D019003:Deoxyribonuclease HpaII / Q000378:metabolism; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific / Q000378:metabolism; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008233:Lymphotoxin-alpha / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
D008233:Lymphotoxin-alpha; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase; C096127:ALDH2 protein, human; D000444:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase; D000071396:Aldehyde Dehydrogenase, Mitochondrial; D019003:Deoxyribonuclease HpaII; C052380:endodeoxyribonuclease NcoI; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific