• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.638-644
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• 2006

Backgrounds: This study investigated whether or not a polymorphism in the gene encoding the surfactant protein A(SP-A) has any bearing on the individual susceptibility to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) in a genetically homogenous Korean population. Methods: The genotypes of 19 COPD patients and 20 healthy neonates as controls were tested using a polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis for the SP-A gene. Results: The specific frequencies of the 6A2 and 6A18 alleles of SP-A1 and the 1A2 allele of SP-A2 were much higher in the COPD group than control group (p<0.05). However, the frequencies of the 6A3 and 6A4 alleles of SP-A1 and the 1A0 allele of SP-A2 in the COPD group were significantly lower than the control group. In the COPD group, the frequencies of the +50 locus genotypes GG of SP-A1 and the +9 locus genotypes CC of SP-A2 were 85.0% and 60.6%, respectively, and 19.7% and 24.8% in the control group, respectively. The frequencies of the polymorphic genotypes or alleles showed a statistically significant difference between the COPD group and the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: A genetic polymorphism in SP-A is associated with the development of COPD in the Korean population.