Abstract

BACKGROUND
PPAR-gamma, a member of nuclear family, which is involved in the differentiation of adipose tissue, is reported to be associated in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance and atherosclerosis. We conducted a research to see whether the prevalence of coronary artery disease is associated with Pro12Ala polymorphism in exon B of PPAR-gamma in Korean adults. METHODS: The study was conducted in 161 subjects (97 males, 64 females, mean age 57 year old) who underwent coronary angiogram due to chest pain. We assessed cardiovascular risk factors in all subjects, such as blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood sugar and serum lipid profiles. Subjects were divided into four groups as normal, 1-vessel, 2-vessel and 3-vessel disease according to the number of stenosed coronary arteries. Genotypings of Pro12Ala polymorphism were done with Real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Allelic frequency for proline was 0.957 and 0.043 for alanine, and they were in compliance with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P = 0.85). 79 subjects (43.5%) had normal coronary artery, 52 subjects (31%), 1-vessel disease, 24 subjects (14.9%), 2-vessel disease and 15 subjects (9.3%), 3-vessel disease. When the cardiovascular risk factors were compared among these four groups, there were no meaningful differences except the age and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, which were lost after adjustment for age and BMI. There were no significant differences in the prevalence or severity of coronary artery diseases according to the different genotypes of Pro12Ala polymorphism. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significantassociation between Pro12Ala polymorphism in exon B of PPAR-gamma and prevalence or severity of coronary artery disease in Korean adults. It is considered that further studies on the correlation between Pro12Ala polymorphism and coronary artery disease should be carried out in larger Korean population in the future

• Keywords: Coronary angiogram;Coronary heart disease;Pro12Ala polymorphism