Association of coagulation factor VII with the risk of myocardial infarction in the Chinese

Objective To elucidate the association of plasma factor VII coagulant activ ity (FVIIc) with the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and to assess the i nfluence of factor VII gene MspI polymorphism and lipid metabolism on FVIIc in the Chinese. Methods A total of 137 patients with angiographically confirmed MI and 125 healthy individuals were evaluated retrospectively. Plasma FVIIc was measur ed by one-stage prothrombin time, and FVII genotype was determined after Ms pI digestion of polymerase chain reaction-amplified genomic DNA. Serum lipi d levels were assessed by routine methods. Results MI patients had significantly higher levels of FVIIc (119.5% +/- 22 .7% vs 99.9% +/- 21.8%, P < 0.01) and total serum cholesterol (5.80 +/- 1.0 6 mmol/L vs 5.53 +/- 1.08 mmol/L, P < 0.05) than controls, but only FVIIc i ndependently correlated with the risk of MI (OR = 1.04, P < 0.01). There we re no significant differences in FW genotype or allele frequency between pa tients and controls (P > 0.05). Subjects with the Gln353 allele were associ ated with significantly lower FVIIc levels than Arg353 homozygotes (99.7% /- 19.3% vs 111.4% +/- 24.6%, P < 0.05). Serum triglyceride was positively correlated with plasma FVIIc in both control (r = 0.25, P < 0.01) and case (r = 0.87, P < 0.01) groups, but this correlation was restricted to Arg/Arg genotype (r = 0.68, P < 0.01). A significant correlation of total serum ch olesterol with FVIIc only appeared in Arg/Arg homozygotes (r = 0.17, P < 0. 01). Conclusions Our findings support the role of plasma FVIIc as a risk factor for MI in Chinese. Plasma triglyceride and FW gene MspI polymorphism are tw o independent determinants of FVIIc. Assay of this polymorphism will be hel pful in determining who will benefit most from lipid-lowing therapy.