Plasma thrombin-activatable fi brinolysis inhibitor levels and Thr325Ile polymorphism as a risk marker of myocardial infarction in Egyptian patients

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate whether thrombin activatable fibrinolytic inhibitor (TAFI) Thr325Ile polymorphism and TAFI antigen (Ag) levels could constitute a risk marker of myocardial infarction (MI) in Egyptian patients.Study population and results The study included forty-six patients with acute MI (mean age 55.7 ± 8.1 years, 33 men, 13 women) compared with age and sex-matched healthy volunteers (n = 54) as a control group. Clinical examination, laboratory investigations, electrocardiography (ECG) and/or echocardiography were done. TAFI Thr325Ile (reference sequence: rs1926447) polymorphism was genotyped in both studied groups using TaqMan SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) genotyping assay. The genotypes of the high-risk allele [Thr/Ile (CT) and Ile/Ile (TT)] were significantly more frequent in patients compared with the control group (54.4% and 32.6% vs. 51.8% and 5.6%, respectively) and were also associated with an increased risk of MI [OR = 4.95, (95% CI: 1.80 - 13.63); P= 0.0001]. Ile325 allele carriers were more frequent in cases than in control subjects (60.0% vs. 31.5%) [OR = 3.26, (95% CI = 1.82 - 5.83), P= 0.001]. The Thr325Ile SNP significantly correlated with TAFI antigen levels with the C/C genotype corresponding with the highest and the T/T genotype with the lowest TAFI antigen levels (P< 0.001).No statistically significant relation was found between TAFI Thr325Ile polymorphism and either the type or the site of MI.Conclusions TAFI Thr325Ile and its respective plasma protein level could have a contribution to MI risk in the Egyptian population. This could be helpful in refining a risk profile for coronary heart disease (CHD) patients.