Background: Nitric oxide (NO) from the endothelium, produced by oxidation of l-arginine to l-citruline for the action at the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is considered an important atheroprotective factor. The 894G>T, -786T>C and 4a/4b polymorphic variants of the NOS3 gene have been implicated in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). We investigated the association between occurrence of CAD documented by angiography and the 894G>T, -786T>C and 4a/4b polymorphisms of the NOS3 gene in Southern Chilean individuals.
Methods: A total of 112 unrelated patients with diagnosis of CAD confirmed by angiography and 112 controls were included in this study. The 894G>T and -786T>C single nucleotide polymorphisms were analyzed by PCR-RFLP, and 4a/4b polymorphism just for PCR.
Results: The genotype distribution and the relative allelic frequencies for the 3 variants investigated were not significantly different between CAD and control subjects (p=NS). Moreover, the odds ratio for CAD associated with the 894T (OR=1.22, 95% CI 0.76-1.95), -786C (OR=1.16, 95% CI 0.75-1.80) and 4a (OR=0.97, 95% CI 0.48-1.95) variants failed to reach statistical significance.
Conclusion: These findings suggest that the 894G>T, -786T>C and 4a/4b polymorphisms of the NOS3 were not associated with CAD in the studied subjects.
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