Polymorphisms of platelet membrane glycoprotein Ib alpha and plasma von Willebrand factor antigen in coronary artery disease

To examine the relationships of two polymorphisms of platelet glycoprotein (GP) Ib alpha and coronary artery diseases (CAD) in Japanese patients, we c onducted a case-control study with 158 Japanese patients and 169 control su bjects. The frequencies of HPA-2 polymorphism and the variable number of ta ndem repeat (VNTR) polymorphisms in the macroglycopeptide region did not si gnificantly differ between CAD patients and control subjects. The polymorph isms of GPIb alpha were not associated with the number of affected vessels in CAD patients. When patients with acute coronary syndrome only were analy zed, the frequencies of the two polymorphisms of GPIba showed no significan t difference. Although plasma von Willebrand antigen (vWF:Ag) levels in pat ients were significantly higher than in controls, no association between vW F concentration and GPIb genotypes was observed. In patient groups with hig her or lower vWF:Ag concentrations, no increase in the frequencies of Met(1 45) or larger VNTR polymorphisms was seen in either group. Our findings ind icate that no association exists between the frequencies of the two polymor phisms of GPIba and CAD. (C) 1999 The Japanese Society of Hematology.