Abstract: Objective To determine if the genetic polymorphisms of androgen receptor gene and 5α-reductase gene are associated with Han men with androgenetic alopecia(AGA) in the Eastern China.Methods One hundred and one AGA patients and 104 healthy controls were recruited in this study.Genomic DNA was isolated and purified from blood of those subjects.The genetic polymorphisms of exon 1 of androgen receptor gene and 5α-reductase genes (SRD5A1 and SRD5A2) were determined by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP).Triplet repeats of CAG and GGC of exon 1 were analyzed by STRs.Results No significant differences were found in StuⅠRFLP and triplet repeat CAG polymorphisms between patients and controls(P>0.05).However,there was significant difference of triplet repeat GGC polymorphisms between patients and controls (P=0.004).The combination of shorter CAG and GGC accounted for 25.53% and 46.88% in patients and controls,respectively(P=0.002).The combination of longer CAG and GGC accounted for 42.55% and 19.79% in patients and controls,respectively (P=0.001).In addition,no significant differences were found in allele,genotype frequencies of SRD5A1 and SRD5A2 genes between patients and controls (P>0.05).Conclusions These results suggest that the polymorphisms of triplet repeat GGC or combination of CAG and GGC of the androgen receptor is significantly associated with Han men with androgenetic alopecia in the Eastern China.However,genetic polymorphism of 5α-reductase may not directly associated with androgenetic alopecia in our study population.

Key words: Alopecia, Testosterone 5-alpha-reductase, Receptors,androgen, Polymorphism, Dihydrotestosterone