Abstract
Endothelial nitric oxide synthase is a crucial gene associated with coronary artery disease, owing to the important functions of nitric oxide in vessel protection and vasodilation. Three “Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms” were found to be significantly associated with CAD: ‘the 4a/b polymorphism in intron 4’, ‘G894T (GLU298ASP) in exon 7’, and ‘the T786C replacement in the flanking region’. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the ‘4a/b polymorphism of the eNOS gene’, the ‘T786C polymorphism of the eNOS gene’, and ‘the combined effect of both 4a/b and T786C’ with the risk of CAD in the Northern Lebanese region. A total of 91 CAD cases and 36 Control healthy individuals were gathered to investigate the allelic frequency and genotypic distribution of the 27VNTR gene polymorphism. 70 of 91 cases and 24 of 36 healthy participants were considered for the T786C polymorphism investigation. Peripheral blood samples were collected, and the 4a/b polymorphism genotypes were determined using “polymerase chain reaction”. Genotypes for the T786C polymorphism were determined using “polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism”. A comparison was made between the two groups regarding the distributions of genotypes and allele frequencies. In our sample, the “a allele” of the 4a/b polymorphism was observed in 14.17% of individuals, while the “C allele” of the T786C polymorphism was found in 27.7%. The Control and CAD groups showed no significant differences in the distributions of genotype and allele frequencies for the T786C and 4a/b gene polymorphisms. No additive effect of both polymorphisms was noted. Therefore, eNOS polymorphisms, in our study, do not show a significant association with CAD.
Keywords: 4a/b Polymorphism, Coronary Artery Disease-CAD, Endothelial Nitric Oxide Gene eNOS, Nitric OxideNO, T786C Polymorphism.