Background: Inflammation is one of the major components of atherosclerosis which is the underlying disorder that leads to various diseases including coronary artery disease (CAD). Genes that are involved in the inflammatory processes are therefore good candidates for the risk of CAD. Variations in the genes involved in various molecular pathways of inflammation have been implicated to exaggerated atherosclerosis and the risk of cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we performed a genetic association study on the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) present in the genes CD14 (-159 C/T), TNFalpha (-308 G/A), IL-1alpha (-889 C/T), IL-6 (-174 G/C), PSMA6 (-8 C/G), and PDE4D (SNP83 T/C, respectively) in order to discern their possible role in the susceptibility to CAD in a North Indian population.
Methods: Angiographically proven CAD patients (n = 210) and age, sex and ethnically matched normal healthy controls (n = 232) were recruited for this case-control study. Genotypes were determined by PCR-RFLP method. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were performed to compare the genotype and allele frequencies between the patient and the control groups.
Results: None of the SNPs showed significant association with CAD in the study population before and after adjustment for the confounding risk factors like age, sex, hypertension, smoking habit, and diabetes.
Conclusion: This study was unable to demonstrate any association between the six gene variants tested and CAD in the North Indian population.