title: Association of MMP-9 gene polymorphisms with acute coronary syndrome in the Uygur population of China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) plays a pivotal role in early atherosclerosis, vascular remodeling and development of atherosclerotic lesion. The potentially functional MMP-9 gene polymorphism may contribute to the susceptibility of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). This study aimed to investigate the association between two single nucleotide polymorphisms (-1562C>T, R279Q) of the MMP-9 gene in patients with ACS in the Uygur population of China.
  
  
  METHODS
  This case-control study was composed of 361 ACS patients and 432 control subjects, who had undergone coronary angiography. Among the ACS patients, 162 (44.9%) had single-vessel disease, 145 (40.2%) had two-vessel disease, and 54 (14.9%) had three-vessel disease. The genotypes of the two selected SNPs were determined by the method of polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP-PCR). The relationship between the polymorphism of the MMP-9 gene and the severity of coronary arterial stenosis was analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analysis of the two SNPs showed that the frequency of CT and TT genotypes in patients with ACS was significantly higher than that in the control group (ACS vs. controls; CT+TT: 25.5% vs. 15.8%, P=0.001). And the -1562 gene allele (C/T) was significantly associated with acute coronary syndrome (ACS vs. controls; C allele: 85.7% vs. 91.5%, T allele: 14.3% vs. 8.5%, P<0.001). But the frequencies of CT+TT and CC genotypes were not statistically different among ACS patients with one, two and three or more significantly diseased vessels (P=0.55). The R279Q polymorphism site with regard to the association with ACS was not significant (P>0.05). The presence of CT or TT genotypes, assuming codominant effect of the T allele, was independently associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease when adjustment was made for age, body mass index, smoking, hypertension and diabetes mellitus [odds ratio=1.737 (95% confidence interval, 1.337-2.257), P=0.018].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MMP-9-1562C>T polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility to ACS in the Uygur population of China. However, this mutation apparently is not related to the severity of coronary arterial stenosis. Another SNP (R279Q) polymorphism of MMP-9 is not significantly associated with the risk of ACS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Teaching Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Teaching Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Tong
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Teaching Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Teaching Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Ning
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Teaching Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
authors.forename: Zhen-Yan
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Teaching Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
authors.forename: Fen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Teaching Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, First Teaching Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
authors.forename: Bang-Dang
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: Acute coronary syndrome; Gene polymorphism; Matrix metalloproteinase-9; Uygur