title: Association of vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphism with myocardial infarction in patients with type 2 diabetes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many studies have reported increased serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in patients with acute coronary syndromes. We searched for the association between either the -634 C/G or the insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the VEGF gene and myocardial infarction (MI) in subjects with type 2 diabetes.
  
  
  METHODS
  143 subjects with type 2 diabetes and MI were compared to 228 diabetic subjects without coronary artery disease (CAD). VEGF serum levels were analyzed in 94 subjects with type 2 diabetes without CAD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significantly higher frequency of the CC genotype of the -634 C/G VEGF polymorphism was found in the patients with MI compared to the patients without CAD (17.5 vs. 9.2%; p = 0.019), whereas the insertion/deletion VEGF polymorphism failed to yield an association with MI. Significantly higher VEGF serum levels were demonstrated in subjects with the CC genotype compared to those with the other (CG + GG) genotypes (60.4 +/- 32.1 vs. 44.1 +/- 23.5 ng/l; p < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study demonstrates that the CC genotype of the -634 C/G VEGF gene might be a risk factor for MI in Caucasians with type 2 diabetes of duration of more than 10 years.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Histology and Embryology, Medical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia. daniel.petrovic@mf.uni-lj.si
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Petrovic
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Verhovec
authors.forename: Mojca
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Globocnik Petrovic
authors.forename: Josko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Osredkar
authors.forename: Borut
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Peterlin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012307:Risk Factors; D017524:Slovenia; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A