ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The objective of the study was to explore the role of a genetic variant of angiotensinogen (AGT), M235T, as an independent risk factor for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and to investigate the possible association with the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD), estimated on the basis of the number of coronary stenoses and critical arterial occlusions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 123 AMI patients were compared to 144 healthy controls. AGT genotypes were determined by PCR. RESULTS: A significant association was found between AGT M235T polymorphism and AMI (p = .021). By logistic regression, the TT genotype appeared to confer 1.9-fold increased risk for AMI in both the univariate and the multivariate model. The frequencies of the TT genotype and T allele increased with the number of stenoses in coronary vessels. Moreover, the TT genotype and the T allele were more frequent in the subgroup of patients with stenoses in at least four coronary vessels than in other patients, including subjects with one- to three-vessel disease. Furthermore, the TT genotype and the T allele were significantly more frequent in patients with critical arterial occlusions (> 90%) than in subjects without critical stenoses. CONCLUSIONS: The AGT M235T polymorphism associates with AMI risk and influences CAD severity.
Subject(s)
Angiotensinogen/genetics , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Myocardial Infarction/genetics , Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide/genetics , Alleles , Coronary Occlusion/complications , Coronary Occlusion/genetics , Coronary Stenosis/complications , Coronary Stenosis/genetics , Coronary Stenosis/pathology , Female , Gene Frequency/genetics , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Myocardial Infarction/complicationsABSTRACT
Primary cardiomyopathies are multifactorial diseases. Genetic factors other than the causal mutations in the modified genes affect the phenotypic expression of dilated cardiomyopathy. The aim of this study was to determine the association of angiotensin-converting enzyme I/D polymorphism with the risk of dilated cardiomyopathy in a Tunisian population. A total of 76 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy was compared to 151 ethnically, age- and gender-matched controls. The frequencies of the DD genotype and D allele were significantly higher in patients as compared with controls, and were associated with increased risk of dilated cardiomyopathy (ACE DD versus ID and II: OR = 3.05 (95% CI, 1.58-5.87; p = 0.001)); D versus I: OR = 2 (95% CI: 1.35-2.97; p = 0.001)). No association was found between the combined genotypes (DD+ID) or D allele and left ventricular end diastolic diameter in dilated cardiomyopathy patients with severe and moderate clinical phenotypes. DD genotype and D allele of angiotensin-converting enzyme I/D gene polymorphism are associated with increased risk of dilated cardiomyopathy in a Tunisian population but do not influence the cardiac phenotype severity.
