ALCOHOL FLUSHING, PATCH TEST, AND ADH AND ALDH GENOTYPES IN BRAZILIANETHNIC-GROUPS

Self reports of flushing reaction after drinking, cutaneous sensitivit y to alcohol (patch test), and genotypic determination of ADH2, ADH3, and ALDH2 were studied in 53 Brazilian volunteers of different ethnic groups. Genotypes were determined using single-strand conformation pol ymorphism in discontinuous buffer electrophoresis. Analysis of the res ults indicated several cases of a reported flushing reaction among ALD HS 1/1 individuals, while all but 2 cases of ALDH2 heterozygotes repor ted a flushing reaction. The latter subjects also had a negative resul t in the patch test. These preliminary results indicate that variabili ty in the facial flushing reaction to alcohol seems to be a phenomenon resulting not only from the presence of a deficient ALDH22 allele, b ut also from other polymorphisms of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes.