least in the group studied. This work was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation,
Germany.
19.
ASSOCIATION OF ENOS GENE POLYMORPHISMS WITH HIGH ALTITUDE
PULMONARY EDEMA. Qiu Chang-Chun
1
, Zhu Tong-Chun
2
, Fang Ming-Wu
1
, Liu Jing-Liang
2
,
Ding Shou-Quan
2
. National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology Institute of Basic Medical
Sciences, Chinese Academ
1
, China Railway Construction Company, Beijing,
1
008
552
.
Background: High-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is characterized by edema formation in
the pulmonary mesenchyma or alveoli caused by severe pulmonary circulation dysfunction after
acute exposure to hypoxia at high altitude. Nitric oxide synthase is a key enzyme that catalyzes
nitric oxide (NO) synthesis in body, and it is presumed to be involved in the pathogenesis of
HAPE. Methods and Results: The study population contains 427 people who were involved in the
construction of Qinghai-Tibet railway and worked in the building site. They all were of Han
nationality; their average age was 29.80±7.3 years, range 18 to 45 years. Their former living sites
were lower than 1000m. A comprehensive medical examination was performed before the
subjects went to the Qinghai-Tibet high altitude, and they were all in healthy condition. After
living at the building site for 6 days, 107 people were diagnosed as HAPE on the basis of
standard diagnostic criteria_; 99 were males and 8 were females, average age was 28.5±8.0 years.
320 people were chosen as controls, matched for age, sex, working condition and former living
site. The 320 controls (300 males, 20 females) had worked in the Qinghai-Tibet high altitude for
at least 3 months and had not been diagnosed as HAPE, high-altitude cerebral edema or high
altitude acute response. We examined 3 polymorphisms of the endothelial nitric oxide
synthase(eNOS) gene, including the G-786C,the G-894T(Glu298Asp)and the 27-base pair(bp)
variable numbers of tandem repeats using polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction
fragment length polymorphism(PCR/RFLP), single strand conformation
polymorphism(PCR/SSCP)and PCR/sequencing. Results: The 786C allelic frequency was
12.2% in HAPE and 8.3% in controls, which was no difference between two
groups(x2=0.83,p=0.36).The 894T allelic frequency was 90.2% in HAPEs and 89.2% in the
controls(p0.05).The eNOS4a allelic frequency of 27 bp variable numbers of tandem repeats was
88.7% in the HAPE-s and 87.2% in the controls (x2=0.25,p=0.62). And the susceptibility of
HAPE was not found to be related to the haplotypes of these three loci. The result of Hardy-
Weinberg disequilibrium transmission analysis suggested that this population was representative
(P0.05). Conclusion: Three loci of the eNOS gene, G-786c, G894T and eNOS 4a, were not
related to HAPE in this population of Han Chinese, which was not consistent with the results
reported by Droma. As the results suggested, we could presume that apart from the difference of
race, the results might be related to the choice of case and controls.
20.
A STUDY OF SERUM INTERLEUKINS AND C-REACTIVE PROTEIN AT HIGH
ALTITUDE. Teng Chang-Qing
1
, Zhu Ai-Qin
1
, Lou Ming-Yuan
1
, Yu Mei-Hua
1
. Department of
Geriatrics, Qinghai Provincial Hospital, Qinghai.
Hypoxia and ultraviolet radiation are known to induce an inflammatory response in immune
cells and endothelial cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in levels of
interleukins (IL) and C-reactive protein (CRP), which are pro-inflammatory cytokines, on normal
males exposed to hypoxia and ultraviolet irradiation (UV) at different high altitudes. 103 healthy
male workers who came from building the Qinghai-Tibetan railroad participated in the study: 50
subjects at high altitude of 4,680m (Yianshiping) and 53 subjects at moderate altitude of 2807m
(Ge Ermu). The serum concentrations of IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8 and CRP were measured by
radioimmunoassay. The results showed that IL-6 and CRP levels were significantly higher in
healthy workers at 4,680m, compared to the groups at 2807m (p<0.01). In both groups, IL-1and
IL-8 levels also increased with altitude (p<0.05). No differences were seen in serum
concentrations of IL-2. In conclusion, serum concentrations of IL-1, IL-6, IL-8 and CRP are
