Alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase polymorphisms in Japanese patients with alcohol-induced chronic pancreatitis.

In order to clarify the genetic factors in alcohol-related chronic pancreatitis among Japanese, we determined the genotype of two major alcohol-metabolizing enzymes, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). The restriction fragment-length polymorphisms of the ADH2 and the ALDH2 genes were analyzed in 47 normal subjects and 31 patients with alcoholic pancreatitis. No significant difference between the patient and control groups was found in the ADH2 genotypes. A significant genetic difference between the two groups was found in the ALDH2 locus. The frequency of the ALDH21 allele was found to be 0.681 and that of the ALDH22 allele was 0.319 in the controls, while these values were 0.935 and 0.065 in the patients, respectively. Most of the patients (27 of 31) were ALDH21/21, only four were ALDH21/22, and none of the patients were ALDH22/22. These results indicate that genetic polymorphism of the ALDH2 gene influences the risk of developing alcoholic pancreatitis in Japanese.