Factor V Leiden and prothrombin gene G20210A mutations are uncommon in portal vein thrombosis in India.
BACKGROUND
Extra-hepatic portal vein obstruction due to portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is an important cause of portal hypertension in several regions including India. The cause of thrombosis in these patients remains unclear. We studied the frequency of mutations in genes for coagulation factors V and II (prothrombin) in 61 Indian patients with PVT and 49 healthy control subjects.


METHODS
The presence of factor V Leiden mutation and of G20210A prothrombin gene mutation was determined using polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism. Chi-squared test was used to compare patients and controls.


RESULTS
Of the 61 patients (median age 11 years; 47 male) studied, 49 were children. One of 61 (1.6%) patients with PVT was heterozygous for factor V Leiden mutation and none had the G20210 prothrombin gene mutation. The frequencies of these mutations were not different from those in control subjects (2/49 and 0/46, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Factor V Leiden and G20210 prothrombin gene mutations are infrequent in Indian patients with PVT. Thus, these mutations are unlikely to be responsible for PVT in the Indian population.
Sharma
Sanjay
S
Department of Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow 226 014, India.
Kumar
Sirish I
SI
Poddar
Ujjal
U
Yachha
S K
SK
Aggarwal
Rakesh
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005165:Factor V / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D017354:Point Mutation; D011169:Portal Vein; D011516:Prothrombin / Q000235:genetics*; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000235:genetics*
C095381:factor V Leiden; D005165:Factor V; D011516:Prothrombin