Carcinogenesis vol.19 no.8 pp.1383–1387, 1998 Alcohol-related cancers and aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 in Japanese alcoholics

5To whom correspondence should be addressed Aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2) eliminates most of the acetaldehyde produced during alcohol metabolism. In some drinkers, a mutant ALDH2 allele contributes to diminished activity of the enzyme, dramatically increasing the risk for esophageal cancer. This study was designed to evaluate the ALDH2 gene polymorphism as a predictor of the development of cancers prevalent in Japanese alcoholics. We performed ALDH2 genotyping on lympho-cyte DNA samples from Japanese alcoholic men (487 cancer-free; 237 with cancer, including 34 oropharyngo