ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: A central component of the atherosclerotic process is inflammation. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) present in the promoter region of various cytokines can lead to altered levels of the transcript and a state of low‑grade inflammation exacerbating the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). The present work tries to understand the role of permissive promoter variants in the interleukin‑6 gene (IL‑6‑174G/C) and the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα‑308G/A) in the causation of CAD and also dyslipidemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Genotyping was conducted on 100 cases of CAD and 150 controls by the allele termination assay SNaPshot. Biochemical parameters were determined by routine enzymatic endpoint methods. The results were analyzed by appropriate statistical methods. RESULTS: No differences in the minor allele frequency IL‑6‑174G/C SNP were seen between cases and controls (0.13 vs. 0.12). The differences in the allele frequency of TNFα‑308A between cases (6%) and controls (2%) have led to an odds ratio, 3.370; 95% confidence interval, 1.039‑11.543; P=0.033 in the univariate analysis. In the final logistic regression analysis, however none of the variants were associated with an increased risk of CAD. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, no association of the permissive promoter variants in the IL‑6 gene and the TNFa gene were seen with an increased CAD risk. These and other studies highlight the importance of doing population specific studies.
ABSTRACT
HCV isolates from around the world show substantial nucleotide sequence variability throughout the viral genome. Based on the identification of these genome differences various genotypes and subtypes have been described from different geographical regions. They have been tentatively classified into six major genotypes and more than 30 subtypes, but new subtypes are continually being discovered. In recent years, substantial evidence has emerged indicating that typing and subtyping for HCV is clinically important. The present study aims at determining and comparing the prevalence of different genotypes from different parts of India (North, South, East and West). A total of 153 samples representing different regions have been genotyped in our lab. Our studies document a high prevalence of genotype 3 (> 76%) and very low prevalence of genotype 2 (< 2%), as a whole. However, genotype 3a has been found to be the highest (50%) with a decreased frequency of approximately 25% in the case of 3b, approximately 14% in 1b and approximately 10% in 1a, whereas a minimal number (approximately 4%) of genotype 4 has been found only in Southern and Western India.