Objective: To study the relationship between aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) gene polymorphism and alcoholic liver disease, and investigate the genetic pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease (ALD).
Methods: PCR, restriction endonuclease and electrophoresis were used, to detect the genotypes and alleles frequencies of ALDH gene in patients in the control group, alcohol dependent group and ALD group, and each group contained 20 patients.
Results: The frequencies of ALDH2*1 and ALDH2*2 allele had statistic significance between control group and ALD group (x2=4.80, P<0.05), and no statistic significance between control group and alcohol dependent group. ALDH2*1/*1 was predominant in alcohol dependent group and ALD group, while ALDH2*2/*2 was not detected.
Conclusions: The gene polymorphism of ALDH is close to ALD. The allele of ALDH2*2 may be a negative risk factor for the developing of ALD