Investigating the role of TNF-α (-238G/A) polymorphism in the development and severity of coronary artery disease in an Iranian population

Introduction: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a chronic inflammatory disease initiated from childhood and is associated with immune deregulation. Altered cytokine profile is a hallmark of many inflammatory diseases including CAD. TNF-α is a pro-inflammatory cytokine and its genetic variation may contribute to development and severity of CAD. The present study investigated the genotype and allele frequency of TNF-α (-238G/A) polymorphism in a group of CAD patients in comparison to a well-defined control group.Methods: the studied population included 122 patients with angiographically documented CAD and 138 matched controls. CAD patients with 50% or more stenosis in at least one major coronary vessel were included in the study. CAD patients were categorized in to single, double and triple stenosis vessel based on the number of stenotic vessel showing ≥50% stenosis. The genotyping of TNF-α (-238G/A) polymorphism was conducted using PCR-RFLP technique. The lipid profile was determined using routine colorimetric methods. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS-16 software with statistical significant levels of <0.05. Results: the frequency of diabetes (P=0.37), hypertension (P=0.28) and smoking (P=0.001) was significantly higher in CAD group as compared with control group. The genotype distribution (P=0.98) and allele frequency (P=0.99) of TNF-α (-238G/A) polymorphism didn’t differ significantly between the two groups. Moreover, analyzing the TNF-α (-238G/A) polymorphism under the recessive (P=0.97) and dominant (P=0.88) genetic models reveals no statistical significant differences between the two groups. However, a significant association was seen between TNF-α (-238G/A) polymorphism and lipid profile in CAD group but not in the control group (P<0.05). Also, CAD patients with triple stenotic vessels were more common among carriers of mutant -238A allele relative to CAD patients with one stenotic vessel (P<0.05).Conclusion: the present study revealed a significant association between TNF-α (-238G/A) polymorphism and the number of stenotic vessels, indicating the role of this polymorphism in determining the severity of CAD. Moreover, a positive association between TNF-α (-238G/A) polymorphism and the lipid profile may confer a role for this genetic variant in determining the lipid profile of CAD patients. However, TNF-α (-238G/A) polymorphism didn’t seem to be involved in the development of CAD.

کلیدواژه ها:

Coronary artery disease ، TNF-α ، Polymorphism