ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the correlation between CD40 gene promoter region - 1C/T polymorphism and carotid atherosclerotic plaques and large artery atherosclerotic stroke.Methods The subjects were the patients with acute large artery atherosclerotic stroke (patient group) and the patients without history of stroke (control group).The patient group was further divided into an unstable plaque subgroup,a stable plaque subgroup,and a plaque-free subgroup.Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to detect CD40 - 1C/T polymorphism.Results A total of 170 patients with large artery atherosclerotic stroke (patient group) and 61 subjects without history of stroke (control group) were included.In the patient group,51 patients were in the unstable plaque subgroup,60 were in the stable plaque subgroup,and 59 were in the plaque-free subgroup.C allele frequency of the patient group was significantly higher than that of the comrol group (52.9％ vs.38.5％ ;x2 =7.466,P =0.006).In the patient group,C allele frequency of the unstable plaque subgroup (75.5％) was significantly higher than that of the stable plaque subgroup (53.3％),and both of them were significantly higher than that of the plaque-free subgroup (33.1％ ) (the stable plaque subgroup vs.the plaque-free subgroup:x2 =9.970,P =0.002; the unstable plaque subgroup vs.the stable plaque subgroups:x2 =11.680,P =0.001; the unstable plaque subgroup vs.the plaque-free subgroup:x2 =39.532,P=0.000).Multivariate logistic regressive analysis showed that hypertension (OR9.513,95％ CI 1.291 - 20.779; P =0.028),increased total cholesterol level (OR 4.235,95％ CI 1.069 -19.034; P =0.032),increased low density lipoprotein level( OR 4.201,95％ CI 1.803 - 9.672; P =0.001 )and C alleles (OR 1.759,95％ CI 1.177 - 2.738; P =0.006) are the independent risk factors of large artery atherosclerotic stroke.Conclusions CD40 - 1C/T polymorphism is associated with the risks of carotid atherosclerotic plaque formation,unstable plaque and large artery atherosclerotic stroke; C allele may be a susceptibility factor for large artery atherosclerotic stroke.