Effect of a polymorphism of endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene in Japanese patients with IgA nephropathy.
BACKGROUND
Nitric oxide (NO) is synthesized by endothelial cell NO synthase (ecNOS) on vascular endothelium, and it plays a key role in the regulation of blood flow and pressure. A polymorphism of the ecNOS gene was recently shown to be associated with the development of cardiovascular disease.


METHODS
We investigated the ecNOS gene polymorphism in 68 Japanese patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) and 134 normal controls.


RESULTS
The genotype distributions were not different between the normal controls and the IgAN patients (ecNOS4b/b: ecNOS4b/a: ecNOS4a/a = 106:27:1 and 50:18:0, respectively). There was no significant difference in the renal histopathological grading between the patients with ecNOS4b/a and ecNOS4b/b. However, among the subgroup of patients whose duration of illness was two or more years, the advanced histopathological grading was more frequent in the patients with the ecNOS4b/a genotype (than in those with the ecNOS4b/b (p = 0.04)). The incidence of hypertension was also higher in the patients with the ecNOS4b/a genotype (50% in ecNOS4b/a versus 12% in ecNOS4b/b, p = 0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that the ecNOS4b/a genotype (or ecNOS4a allele) of the ecNOS gene polymorphism may be involved in the progression of IgAN.
Morita
T
T
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kochi Medical School, Japan.
Ito
H
H
Suehiro
T
T
Tahara
K
K
Matsumori
A
A
Chikazawa
H
H
Nakauchi
Y
Y
Nishiya
K
K
Hashimoto
K
K
D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D005922:Glomerulonephritis, IGA / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000235:genetics*; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000235:genetics; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D013997:Time Factors
C496314:NOS3 protein, human; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A