RESUMEN
The present study investigated the relationship between the genetic polymorphisms in MMP-9 and MMP-3 genes and acute myocardial infarction [AMI]. We examined 40 patients with acute myocardial infarction and 40 age and sex matched controls for MMP-9 functional promoter polymorphism [-1562 C > T] and MMP-3 [5A/6A] deletion/insertion polymorphism using restriction fragment length polymorphism [RFLP] for amplified genomic DNA. The frequencies of the combined mutant genotypes CT and TT in the [-1562 C > T] MMP9 were significantly higher in AMI patients [20%] when compared to the controls [0%] [pvalue = 0.005] showing an association between these genotypes and AMI. Also there was a significant difference between 5A/5A genotype and 5A allele frequencies when both are compared in the patients [25% and 35%] and the controls [2.5% and 18.75%] [p = 0.009; OR = 13; CI = 1.576-107.233]; and [p = 0.02; OR = 2.333, CI = 1.130-4.820] respectively. In conclusion, the -1562C > T polymorphism of the MMP9 gene is strongly associated with acute myocardial infarction in the Egyptian population. Furthermore, our study supported the presence of the 5A/5A genotype of MMP3 gene promoter polymorphism as a risk factor of AMI in Egyptian patients. Meanwhile, the race selection should be paid more attention since the pathogenesis of a disease might have different bases in different racial population groups