Objective: To explore the association between gene polymorphism of heat shock protein 70-1 (HSP 70-1) and the susceptibility to ischemic stroke.
Methods: A 1:1 matched case-control study was conducted. 116 patients with ischemic stroke were selected from two general hospitals in Shenzhen. The controls were selected by the same gender and ethnic group, and each pair's ages were permitted to differ within 5 years. HSP70-1 genotypes were determined by using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. The cases and controls were interviewed using the same questionnaire.
Results: There were significant differences in the distribution of genotypes and allele frequencies between the case group and control group (P < 0.05). The allele frequencies of HSP70-1 b2 in case group (36.64 %) were higher than those in the control (21.99%) (P < 0.005). Results of conditional logistic regression demonstrated that HSP70, hypertension and smoking were independent risk factors of ischemic stroke, and their OR values were 5.41, 2.79 and 8.17, respectively. Tea drinking history was a protective factor, and the OR value was 0.18.
Conclusion: It was suggested that polymorphism of HSP70-1 gene should contribute to the higher risk of ischemic stroke.