Objective: To assess the association of common polymorphisms involved in lipoprotein oxidation, platelet activation, and cholesterol and homocysteine metabolism with subclinical atherosclerosis and indices of endothelial function and arterial elasticity in healthy postmenopausal women.
Design: The study investigated 84 healthy postmenopausal women recruited from the Menopause Clinic of the 2nd Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Athens, Aretaieion Hospital. The following polymorphisms were genotyped: apolipoprotein B 3500, apolipoprotein E (E2/E3/E4), cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase A-204C (CYP A-204C), cholesterol ester transfer protein B1/B2, glycoprotein IIIa leu33pro, integrin beta 3 PLA1/PLA2, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 4G/5G, paraoxonase 1 gln192 arg, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase ala222val. Ultrasound examination aimed to assess the presence of atherosclerotic plaque and to measure intima-media thickness in the carotid and femoral arteries and to estimate the augmentation index, brachial flow-mediated dilatation, and radial and femoral pulse-wave velocity.
Results: The cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase A-204C polymorphism was positively associated with the presence of atherosclerotic plaque (P = 0.004) and carotid and femoral intima-media thickness (P = 0.047 and P = 0.025, respectively).
Conclusions: The CYP A-204C polymorphism was positively associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in healthy postmenopausal women. It remains to be clarified whether the presence of these polymorphisms may be valuable in assessing the inherent risk among postmenopausal women.