title: Genotype and allele frequencies of heme oxygenase-1 promoter region in a Greek cohort.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is an enzyme, which catabolizes heme into carbon monoxide, biliverdin and free iron. The induction of this enzyme is an important cytoprotective mechanism, which occurs as an adaptive and beneficial response to a wide variety of oxidant stimuli. HO-1 inducibility is mainly modulated by a (GT)(n) polymorphism in the promoter region, and has been shown that short (S) repeats are associated with greater up-regulation of HO-1, compared with long (L) repeats.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the present study, 250 healthy Greek individuals have been screened in order to estimate the frequencies of (GT)(n) alleles in the HO-1 gene.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nineteen different alleles, ranging from 17 to 39 repeats, with (GT)(23) and (GT)(30) being the most common ones, were identified.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The possible role of this polymorphism in disease states is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Development, and Molecular Biology, School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece. eleni.katana@gmail.com
authors.forename: Eleni P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Katana
authors.forename: Lemonia G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Skoura
authors.forename: Zacharias G
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Scouras
authors.forename: Michail A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Daniilidis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006115:Greece; D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D051547:Heme Oxygenase-1