CD14 promoter polymorphism in Chinese alcoholic patients with cirrhosis of liver and acute pancreatitis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between genetic polymorphism of the CD14 promoter and the occurrence of alcoholic cirrhosis and alcoholic pancreatitis, and to challenge the conclusion made earlier that the patients with acute alcoholic pancreatitis and patients with alcoholic cirrhosis of liver are two different subpopulations.


METHODS
Using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method, we determined the polymorphism of CD14 gene and aldehyde dehydrogenase gene 2 (ALDH 2) in 335 alcoholic patients with different organ complications i.e., cirrhosis of liver (n = 100), acute pancreatitis (n = 100), esophageal cancer (n = 82) and avascular necrosis of hip joint (AVN) (n = 53) and 194 non-alcoholic controls in a Chinese group.


RESULTS
The results showed that the carriage of T allele was not different among alcoholic patients with cirrhosis of liver, alcoholic patients with other complication and non-alcoholic controls. On the other hand, the carriage of the C allele was significantly more prevalent for alcoholic pancreatitis than for esophageal cancer (0.79 vs 0.60, P<0.001), alcoholic AVN (0.79 vs 0.65, P<0.025) and non-alcoholic controls (0.79 vs 0.68, P<0.025). Furthermore, when only subjects with ALDH2 1-1 genotype were examined, the C allele frequency was significantly more prevalent for alcoholic pancreatitis than for alcoholic liver cirrhosis (0.82 vs 0.69, P<0.025), esophageal cancer (0.82 vs 0.61, P<0.01), alcoholic AVN (0.82 vs 0.64, P<0.01) and non-alcoholic controls (0.82 vs 0.69, P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The C allele may be associated with some mechanism, which is important in the pathogenesis of alcoholic pancreatitis, and that alcoholic patients with acute pancreatitis and cirrhosis of liver are probably two different subpopulations.
Chao
You-Chen
YC
Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, China. chaoycmd@ndmctsgh.edu.tw
Chu
Heng-Cheng
HC
Chang
Wei-Kuo
WK
Huang
Hsin-Hung
HH
Hsieh
Tsai-Yuan
TY
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors / Q000235:genetics*; D008104:Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019512:Pancreatitis, Alcoholic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D013624:Taiwan
D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors; D004247:DNA