The eNOS gene polymorphism does not have a major impact on lipid parameters and premature coronary artery disease in Caucasian women

Abstract

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) catalyzes the formation of nitric oxide (NO) which has vasodilatory, antithrombotic, antiinflammatory and antiproliferative actions through which NO regulates blood pressure and modulates the process of atherosclerosis. Genetic polymorphism of the eNOS gene has been identified in several studies as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.

In this case-control study we examined a possible association of the polymorphism in intron 4 (4a/b) of the eNOS gene (eNOS 4a/b) on coronary artery disease (CAD) risk in 151 Slovenian women with premature CAD (younger than 65 years) and in 109 women without CAD. The eNOS 4a/b polymorphism was analysed by PCR reaction. CAD in women was confirmed by coronary angiography. An aged-matched control group was without a history of symptomatic CAD. The frequency of 4a/b genotypes did not differ between patients and controls: in CAD patients the frequencies of the 4aa, 4ab, or 4bb genotype were 4.0%, 27.2%, or 68.8%, respectively, and in controls the genotype frequencies were 6.4%, 26.6%, or 67.0%, respectively. In our study there were no differences in lipid parameters (total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and triglycerides) between the subjects with the aa genotype and the subjects with the ab or bb genotype.Also, there was no association between the rare genotype aa and an increased risk of CAD in current and ex-smokers, and in hypertensive individuals. In this study we found that the eNOS 4a/b polymorphism was not associated with premature CAD (OR 0.7; 95% CI 0.2-3.7; p = 0.7), but the clustering of classical risk factors has a major impact on premature CAD in Caucasian women.

Key Words:

• coronary artery disease
• eNOS gene polymorphism
• lipids
• Caucasian woman