Heme oxygenase-1 polymorphism associated with severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
BACKGROUND
Recent studies have suggested that susceptibility to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) might be related to the length polymorphism of (GT)(n) repeat in the 5'-flanking region of heme oxygenase-1 (HOX-1) gene. However, there has been no research about the relationship between the polymorphism of HOX-1 gene and severity of COPD.


METHODS
The polymorphism of HOX-1 gene in 452 patients with COPD from Han population in Southwest China was analysed by fragment analysis. The frequencies of the HOX-1 genotype were compared with the stage of COPD of each patient.


RESULTS
The HOX-1 genotypes were classified into two groups: group I were individuals with class L allele (the number of GT = 32 repeats), and group II were those without class L allele (the number of GT < 32 repeats). The genotypic frequency of the HOX-1 group I was significantly higher than group II in the very severe COPD patients (36.8% vs 22.4%, P < 0.01, OR = 2.0, 95% CI 1.3 - 3.1), while the genotypic frequency of the HOX-1 group II was lower in the mild COPD (16.0% vs 26.0%, P = 0.02, OR = 0.5, 95% CI 0.3 - 0.9). However, in moderate and severe stages COPD, there were similar genotypic frequencies between HOX-1 group I and group II.


CONCLUSIONS
Genetic polymorphism in HOX-1 is associated with the severity of COPD in Southwest China. COPD patients with class L allele may be susceptible to develop very severe COPD. Conversely, the COPD patients without class L allele may be more easily stabilized on mild COPD.
Fu
Wei-Ping
WP
Department of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College, Kunming 650032, China.
Zhao
Zhi-Huan
ZH
Fang
Li-Zhou
LZ
Sun
Chang
C
Liu
Lin
L
Zhang
Jian-Qin
JQ
Zhang
Ya-Ping
YP
Dai
Lu-Ming
LM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D005838:Genotype; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology
D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1