R. Liskeryourkowitzky et al., GENOTYPES OF ALCOHOL-METABOLIZING ENZYMES IN MEXICANS WITH ALCOHOLIC LIVER-CIRRHOSIS, Archives of medical research, 26, 1995, pp. 63-67
With the use of the polymerase chain reaction (FCR), we investigated t
he frequency of the typical and atypical genes of the alcohol dehydrog
enase 2 (ADH(2)) and aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH(2)) loci, in a gro
up of patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis and two comparison group
s. Contrary to what has been found in the Japanese population, there w
as no difference in the frequencies of these genes in the groups inves
tigated, and we conclude that in Mexicans, the particular mutation of
the ALDH, locus which ''protects'' Orientals from alcoholic hepatic di
seases, by making them very susceptible to alcohol and therefore disco
uraging its ingestion, is not present.