Combination of short CAG and GGN repeats in the androgen receptor gene is associated with acne risk in North East China.

Acne vulgaris is one of the most common skin disorders, and androgen is known to play a key role in the development of acne. However, the exact genetic mechanism by which androgen receptor (AR) gene affects acne development is still unclear.,Our study aimed to investigate whether CAG and GGN polymorphism of the AR gene are associated with acne risk.,Two hundred thirty-eight patients and 207 controls were included in the study. The repeat lengths of the AR gene were determined by GeneScan analysis.,Men with CAG < 23 and women with CAG < 24 had significant risk compared to those men with CAG > or = 23 [odds ratio (OR), 2.07; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.21-3.54] and women with CAG > or = 24 (OR, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.18-3.56). In males, GGN repeats, considered independently of the CAG repeat, have no significant effect on the acne risk; however, when combined with CAG repeats, the acne patients exhibited significantly higher frequency of the haplotypes CAG < 23/GGN < or = 23 (OR, 3.33; 95% CI, 1.10-10.07; P < 0.05) compared with the controls.,Our results of this study strongly indicated that a shorter CAG repeat length and specific haplotypes of AR attributed to the risk of acne development and thus could serve as a susceptibility marker.