ALLELIC VARIANTS OF CYP2E1 GENE IN HEPATOCARCINOMA PATIENTS AND IN HEPATIC TUMOR CELL LINES

Background and Aims: Hepatic enzyme CYP2E1 is involved in the metabolism of a number of exogenous and endogenous substances (i.e. ethanol, drugs and chemical carcinogens). Being polymorphic, CYP2E1 gene can give different xeno-metabolic capabilities in a population and it is well known that inadequate or no enzymatic deactivation of xenobiotics could induce an increased susceptibility to disease and cancer. In particular, one of the 5 -flanking region polymorphisms, able to differentiate CYP2E1 gene transcriptional activity, is caused by the appearance/disappearance of RsaI and PstI restriction sites, which generates two different alleles, namely *C1(Rsa+/Pst−) and *C2(Rsa−/Pst+) respective…