Alcohol intake and risk of incident psoriasis in US women: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the independent association between alcohol consumption and risk of developing psoriasis and to determine if this risk is associated with different types of alcoholic beverages. DESIGN: A prospective study of female nurses who were followed up from 1991 to 2005. SETTING: Nurses' Health Study II, a cohort of 116,671 US women aged 27 to 44 years in 1991. PARTICIPANTS: The study population included 82,869 women who reported amount and type of alcohol intake on biennial questionnaires. We excluded participants with a history of psoriasis prior to 1991. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Self-report of incident physician-diagnosed psoriasis. For a sensitivity analysis, we had a subset of confirmed psoriasis cases. RESULTS: There were 1150 cases of incident psoriasis, 1069 of which were used for analysis. Compared with women who did not drink alcohol, the multivariate relative risk (RR) of psoriasis was 1.72 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15-2.57) for an alcohol consumption of 2.3 drinks/wk or more. When examined by type of alcoholic beverage, there was an association between psoriasis and nonlight beer intake (multivariate RR for ≥ 5 drinks/wk, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.15-2.69); light beer, red wine, white wine, and liquor were not significantly associated with psoriasis risk. The association with nonlight beer intake became stronger in a subset of confirmed psoriasis cases (multivariate RR for ≥ 5 drinks/wk, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.36-3.85). CONCLUSIONS: Nonlight beer intake is associated with an increased risk of developing psoriasis among women. Other alcoholic beverages did not increase the risk of psoriasis in this study.

Wild-type blocking polymerase chain reaction for detection of single nucleotide minority mutations from clinical specimens.

Detection and sequencing of mutations from clinical specimens is often complicated by the presence of an excess of nonmutated cells. To facilitate the detection and sequencing of minority mutations from clinical specimens, we developed wild-type blocking polymerase chain reaction (WTB-PCR). This technique allows sensitive detection of minority mutations in a tissue sample containing excess wild-type DNA. In WTB-PCR, a nonextendable locked nucleic acid (LNA) oligonucleotide binds tightly to a region of wild-type DNA known to develop point mutations. This LNA sequence blocks amplification of wild-type DNA during PCR while permitting amplification of mutant exon 15. Our results show that the LNA blocking oligonucleotide inhibits amplification of wild-type DNA in a dose-dependent manner. WTB-PCR was able to detect mutant DNA in clinical samples of melanoma tissue containing an excess of nonmelanoma cells. This method was also able to detect small amounts of point mutated or tandem mutated DNA diluted with a much larger concentration of wild-type DNA. This rapid and simple assay overcomes the limitations of current methods to detect minority mutations. The potential applications of WTB-PCR include early diagnosis and prognosis of various cancers.