Objective: Investigate the genetic polymorphisms of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), major enzymes involving the trichloroethylene (TCE) metabolism, associated with susceptibility to TCE-induced medicamentosa-like dermatitis.
Methods: The study included 108 patients with TCE-induced medicamentosa-like dermatitis and 145 healthy controls exposed to TCE who were engaged in the same workplace, and frequency matched by sex and age. The genotypes of ADH2, ADH3 and ALDH2 were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restricted fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), and distribution of genotype and odds ratio were calculated.
Results: There were no differences in the frequencies of genotypes of ADH2 and ADH3 between cases and exposed controls. The frequency of heterozygous ALDH2 * 1/ * 2 plus homozygous ALDH2 * 2/ * 2 in cases was significantly lower than that in exposed controls (27.8% vs 43.4%, P = 0.011), and it decreased the risk of TCE-induced medicamentosa-like dermatitis (OR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.29-0.85).
Conclusion: The active ALDH2 might be one of the factors influencing the individual susceptibility to TCE-induced medicamentosa-like dermatitis.