Aim: To investigate effects of polymorphic variants of surfactant protein C gene (SFTPC) on the course of the disease in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Material and methods: Sixty COPD patients were examined with COPD of stage 0-IV. The following parameters were studied: smoking index (SI), bronchial patency, lung pathology by the findings of high resolution computed tomography, polymorphisms of SFTPC gene by the data of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by mass-spectrometric detection. A trend was found to correlation between a polymorphic variant of A138C and COPD severity (p = 0.056). A CC genotype occurred more frequently in patients with COPD stages III and IV. A significant correlation exists between a polymorphic variant of A186G and the disease course severity (p = 0.23). Genotypes AA or AG are more typical for patients with COPD stage 0, I and II; GG genotype--stage III and IV. Genotype CC SFPTC A138C and genotype GG SFTPC A186G are significantly associated with pulmonary emphysema (p = 0.004 and p = 0.01, respectively).
Conclusion: Polymorphic variants of SFTPC affect COPD course.