{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.029440628066732092, 'fraction_numerical': 0.014720314033366046, 'mean_word_length': 5.580645161290323, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Association of a tumor necrosis factor promoter polymorphism with susceptibility to alcoholic steatohepatitis

Twin concordance studies suggest that genetic factors play a role in determining why only a minority of heavy drinkers develop hepatitis and cirrhosis. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) has emerged as the “final common pathway” in the pathogenesis of alcohol‐related hepatic necro‐inflammation. We have examined the frequency of the two recently described polymorphisms of the TNF‐α promoter in 150 patients with biopsy‐proven alcoholic liver disease and 145 healthy volunteers. There was a significant excess of the rare allele (TNFA‐A; G(−238) → A) at position −238 in patients with steatohepatitis compared with controls or patients without this lesion. This is consistent with previous suggestions that the TNFA‐A allele, which falls within a putative Y regulation box of the TNF‐α promoter, is associated with increased TNF‐α expression. No differences were observed for the polymorphism at position −308.