Distribution of alcohol-metabolizing enzyme genotypes in trauma patients with excessive alcohol consumption in the emergency department.

Abstract Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the distribution of genetic polymorphisms of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes in trauma patients with excessive alcohol consumption in the emergency department (ED). Design and methods: A total of 100 trauma patients and age-matched control subjects composed of 98 participants were enrolled in this study. The activities of liver enzymes and genotypes of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes, including ADH2, ALDH2, and CYP2E1, were analyzed with the polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. Results: There was a significant difference in the allele frequencies of ALDH2 between the two groups. For the genotypes, there were significant differences in the genotype frequencies of ADH2 and ALDH2. There was also a significantly lower frequency in patients with the ALDH2*2 phenotype than those of the controls. For the activities of liver enzymes, there were significant differences between the two groups. For ADH2 and ALDH2, there were significantly higher ORs (odds ratios) in trauma patients with normal activity than those with weak or intermediate activity but there were no significant difference in CYP2E1 genotype between two groups. To investigate the interaction of alcohol-metabolizing enzyme genotypes, we have estimated the odds ratios in two alcohol-metabolizing pathways. The ORs of the combined genotypes of ADH2 (*1/*1 + *1/*2) and ALDH2 (*1/*1) and the combined genotypes of either CYP2E1 (*c1/*c1) or CYP2E1 (*c1/*c2 + *c2/*c2) and ALDH2 (*1/*1) were significantly higher than that of the reference group in the major and the minor pathway, respectively. Conclusions: Genetic variation of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes, especially ALDH2, may play an important role on the occasions of alcohol problems in the emergency department.