Genetic variations of the paraoxonase gene in patients with coronary artery disease

Objectives: Paraoxonase (PON) plays an important role in preventing low den sity lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation and thus may be involved in protection aga inst atherosclerosis. Several studies have suggested that genetic variation s of the PON gene are associated with plasma HDL levels and coronary artery disease (CAD). This study was conducted to elucidate the association betwe en three polymorphisms of the PON1 and PON2 aeries and Korean patients with CAD. Design and Methods: One hundred ninety-one patients with CAD and 113 age-ma tched normal controls were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products were analyzed for PON polymorphisms by restriction enzyme dig estion. Results: There was link-age disequilibria between each polymorphism pair in the CAD and control groups. The Hsp92II polymorphism at codon 54 of the PO N1 gene was positively associated with HDL-cholesterol levels in the contro l group (p = 0.02). An association between the AlwI polymorphism and HDL-ch olesterol level appeared statistically significant in women of the normal g roup (p = 0.04). In addition, the Ddel and AlwI polymorphisms were positive ly associated with HDL (p = 0.02) and LDL (p = 0.03) levels in men of the C AD group, respectively. Conclusions: Our study suggested a gene-gene interaction between the PON1 a nd PON2 polymorphisms for CAD risk. However, we could not exclude the possi bility that these polymorphisms may have linkage disequilibrium with a tigh tly linked PON3 locus or significant atherosclerotic alleles of nearby gene s. Family studies may, therefore, help to confirm the role of the PON polym orphism for CAD risk. (C) 2001 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. A ll rights reserved.