RESUMO
Alpha-1 antitrypsin [alpha1-AT] is a secretory glycoprotein produced mainly in the liver and monocytes. It is the most abundant serine protease inhibitor in human plasma. It predominantly inhibits neutrophil elastase thus, it prevents the breakdown of lung tissue. The deficiency of alpha1-AT is an inherited disorder characterized by reduced serum level of alpha1-AT. Protease inhibitors Z [PiZ] and protease inhibitors S [PiS] are the most common deficient genotypes of alpha1-AT. The aim of this study is to test the relationship between alpha1-AT deficient genotypes S and Z and lung cancer in Jordanian lung cancer patients. We obtained the samples used in this study from 100 paraffin embedded tissue blocks of the lung cancer patients from Prince Iman Research Center and Laboratory Sciences at King Hussein Medical Center, Amman, Jordan. Analyses of the Z and S genotypes of alpha1-AT were performed by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques at Jordan University of Science and Technology during 2003 and 2004. We demonstrated that all lung cancer patients were of M genotype, and no Z or S genotypes were detected. There is no relationship between alpha1-AT deficient genotypes S and Z and lung cancer in patients involved in this study