Association between aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 polymorphisms, alcohol consumption, and prognosis in Japanese patients with hypopharyngeal cancer

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between ALDH2 polymorphisms and clinicopathological characteristics of Japanese hypopharyngeal cancer （HPC） patients.
We retrospectively reviewed the clinical charts of 63 HPC patients who initially underwent curative intent surgery from 2008 to 2015. ALDH2 polymorphism status was determined using Sanger sequencing. Amount of alcohol consumption was converted using the Sake index.
ALDH2*1/*1, ALDH2*1/*2, and ALDH2*2/*2 were found in 27 （43％）, 36 （57％）, and 0 patients, respectively. The Sake index in ALDH2*1/*2 patients was significantly lower than that in ALDH2*1/*1 patients （75.6±9.2 and 114.0±14.5, respectively; P＝0.03）. In contrast, ALDH2 polymorphism status did not correlate with the prognoses of HPC patients.