Comparison of Tight Junction Protein-Related Gene mRNA Expression Levels between Male and Female Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Patients.
Background/Aims
Male predominance has been observed in the erosive reflux disease (ERD), but reverse finding in nonerosive reflux disease (NERD). This suggests sex-specific medicine approach is needed but its mechanism is remained to be elucidated. We aimed to compare clinical characteristics and mRNA expression levels of tight junction-related proteins between male and female gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).


Methods
Sixteen healthy controls, 45 ERD, and 14 NERD patients received upper endoscopies and completed questionnaires. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions of occludin (OCLN), zonal occludens (ZO) 1, claudin-1 (CLDN1) and claudin-4 (CLDN4), and neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1R) were performed in the distal esophageal mucosal specimen. These results were analyzed by sex.


Results
Female GERD patients were affected more by reflux symptoms than males. The impairment of overall quality of life was more prominent in female patients with reflux symptoms than male patients (5.6±0.2 vs 4.9±0.6, p=0.009). The levels of OCLN mRNA expression were significantly lower in the male ERD group. On the other hand, those of CLDN1, CLDN4, and NK1R except ZO-1 were significantly higher in the male ERD group.


Conclusions
We demonstrated that female ERD/NERD patients were affected more by GERD and male ERD patients showed significant changes of tight junction protein mRNA expression levels.
['Kim|Jin Joo|JJ|', 'Kim|Nayoung|N|', 'Park|Ji Hyun|JH|', 'Kim|Young Sun|YS|', 'Lee|Sun Min|SM|', 'Lee|Dong Ho|DH|', 'Jung|Hyun Chae|HC|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D016022:Case-Control Studies D062445:Claudin-1 D062506:Claudin-4 D000071041:Esophageal Mucosa D004942:Esophagitis, Peptic D004945:Esophagoscopy D005260:Female D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux D015870:Gene Expression D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D062793:Occludin D011788:Quality of Life D012333:RNA, Messenger D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction D018040:Receptors, Neurokinin-1 D012737:Sex Factors D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D062725:Tight Junction Proteins D062826:Zonula Occludens-1 Protein
Gastroesophageal reflux Tight junction proteins Claudin Occluding