Prevalence of the 20210 G-->A prothrombin variant and its association with coronary artery disease in a Middle Eastern Arab population.
BACKGROUND
No reports are available on the distribution of the 20210 G-->A prothrombin variant among Middle Eastern Arabs. Additionally, to date, studies that attempt to establish this polymorphism as an independent risk factor or as a predictor for coronary artery disease (CAD) have yielded conflicting results.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of the 20210 G-->A prothrombin variant among Middle Eastern Arabs and to evaluate the potential relevance of this variant to Arab patients with angiographically documented CAD.


RESULTS
We used the polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme digestion to determine the prevalence of this polymorphism in 613 individuals from Arabic ethnic origin with CAD and from 593 healthy blood donors (BDs) from an identical ethnic background. Within the BD group (n = 593), 10 individuals (1.7%) were heterozygous, 583 individuals (98.3%) were normal, and none were homozygous for the 20210 G-->A prothrombin variant. Within the CAD group (n = 613), 13 individuals (2.1%) were heterozygous, 600 individuals (97.9%) were normal, and none were homozygous for the 20210 G-->A prothrombin variant. A chi(2) analysis was used to evaluate any significance in the distribution of genotypes. A value of 1.23 was obtained. Values less than 3.84 indicate no statistically significant difference between the heterozygous carriers of the 20210A allele in both study groups.


CONCLUSIONS
In our population of Middle Eastern Arabs, the presence of the 20210 G-->A prothrombin variant is not associated with patients with angiographically documented CAD. Therefore, this variant cannot be considered as an independent risk factor or as a predictor for CAD in this population.
Department of Genetics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. kamero@kfshrc.edu.sa
Khaled K
KK
Abu-Amero
Carol A
CA
Wyngaard
Marios
M
Kambouris
Nduna
N
Dzimiri
D000328:Adult; D018912:Arabs / Q000235:genetics*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017354:Point Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D015995:Prevalence; D011516:Prothrombin / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology
D011516:Prothrombin; D004247:DNA