The Association Of ALDH2Genetic Polymorphisms And Environmental Factors With Hyperuricemia

Hyperuricemia is a complex metabolic disease. Multiple genetic, environmentaland dietary factors are involved in its pathogenesis. Alcohol consumption is a riskfactor for hyperuricemia and metabolic diseases. Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH)is a key enzyme in alcohol metabolism. The G487A single nucleotide polymorphismof ALDH2gene causes defect in alcohol metabolism and influences drinkingbehavior. This project was designed to study the association of ALDH2geneticpolymorphism and dietary behaviour patterns with hyperuricemia.The health status and and dietary behaviour patterns of905males in Weihai citywere analysed. It was found that the prevalence of hyperuricemia in this populationwas7.8%. Seafood, alcohol consumption and tea drinking increased the risk ofhyperuricemia and hyperuricemia was highly correlated with other metabolicdiseases such as hyperlipidemia and metabolic syndrome.DNA from95cases of hyperuricemia and113cases of healthy controls wereextracted and the sequence of G487A in exon12of aldehyde dehydrogenase2genewas amplified by polymerase chain reaction. The genotype of ALDH2geneticpolymorphism was then determined by DNA sequencing. The results showed that thedistributions of genotypes G/G, G/A and A/A in ALDH2genetic polymorphism inthis group were67.8%,28.8%,3.4%. The frequency of GG genotype in subjects withhyperuricemia was significantly higher than the controls, while the frequency of Aallele among the controls was higher than the hyperuricemia subjects. Logisticregression analysis showed that the A allele was the protective factors ofhyperuricemia(OR=0.498).It is not clear how the A allele in ALDH2genetic polymorphism reduces therisk of hyperuricemia. One possible explanation is that A allele carriers drink lessthan the wild type carriers since the the defect in ALDH2can cause a series ofuncomfortable reactions such as flushing raction and so on after consumption even asmall amount of alcohol.