SEVERITY OF CHEST DISEASE IN CYSTIC-FIBROSIS PATIENTS IN RELATION TO THEIR GENOTYPES

A detailed comparison of the severity of chest disease with mutational status was carried out by cross sectional study of 127 cystic fibrosis patients, aged 1 to 31 years, living in Wales. Lung disease was classified according to severity, depending on pulmonary function tests (carried out on 76 patients) and chest radiograph status; information was obtained also on age at diagnosis in relation to severity of chest disease and colonisation with Pseudomonas species. Genotypes were determined by analysis for the mutations DELTAF508, DELTA1507, G551D, R553X, G542X, R117H, R560T, 1717 - IG > A, and 621 + 1G > T. CF patients homozygous positive and heterozygous for the DELTAF508 deletion showed a significant decline of lung function with age. Unlike other studies, we did not find patients homozygous positive for the DELTAF508 deletion to have poorer lung function compared with heterozygous patients. Patients with the genotype 621 + IG > T/DELTAF508 tended to have more severe chest disease than the DELTAF508 homozygous patients in the same age group. There was some evidence that four patients heterozygous for R117H have mild chest disease.