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[Influence of apolipoprotein E polymorphism in alcoholic cirrhosis]
V Giraud1, S Naveau, D Betoulle
1Service d'Hépatologie et de Gastroentérologie, Hôpital Antoine-Béclère, Clamart.
Objective:
To assess whether the polymorphism of apolipo-protein E was associated with the development of alcoholic cirrhosis and could influence the severity of liver injury evaluated by the Child-Pugh score.
Method:
We investigated 75 alcoholic patients with a histological diagnosis of cirrhosis, with negative HBV, HCV serology and a control group of 54 subjects. Polymorphism of apolipoprotein E was performed using PCR.
Results:
There was no difference for the allele frequency and the genotype in the cirrhotic group and the control group. Cirrhotic patients with allele epsilon 2 had higher concentration of albumin (P = 0.01) and a higher level of apolipoprotein AII (P < 0.05) than those with allele epsilon 3. They also had a higher concentration of apolipoprotein AI than cirrhotic patients with allele epsilon 3 and epsilon 4 (P = 0.01). There was a statistical difference between the three genotype groups for prothrombin time (P = 0.01). There was no statistical difference between the three genotype groups for Child-Pugh score.
Conclusions:
Polymorphism of apolipoprotein E was not associated with the development of alcoholic cirrhosis. However patients with allele epsilon 2 had better hepatocellular function.