E-SELECTIN POLYMORPHISM AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS - AN ASSOCIATION STUDY

Adhesion molecules like the members of the selectin family participate in the interaction between leukocytes ;and the endothelium. They are also involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic processes. To con tribute to the analysis of the genetic background of atherosclerosis w e searched for DNA polymorphisms in the genes encoding adhesion molecu les especially E-selectin which seems to be expressed only in activate d endothelium. An adenine to cytosine substitution for cDNA position 5 61 resulting in an amino acid exchange from serine to arginine (positi on 128) was detected in the epidermal growth factor like domain. A sig nificantly higher mutation frequency (P = 0.02) was observed in 97 pat ients aged 50 years or less with angiographically proven severe athero sclerosis (allele frequency of arginine 0.155) compared with an unsele cted population (allele frequency of arginine 0.088) as well as in 40 patients aged 40 years or less (allele frequency of arginine 0.21, P = 0.0025). These data suggest that the 128-serine/arginine polymorphism is associated with a higher risk for early severe atherosclerosis.