E23K POLYMORPHISM IN IRANIAN PATIENTS WITH CORONARYHEART DISEASE

Background: it has been shown that atp-sensitive potassium (katp) channels play an importantrole in physiology of myocardial adaptation to ischemia. in cardiomyocytes, the poreformingsubunits of these channels ar e coded by kcnju gene. it was reported that the commonpolymorphism e23k of th is gene is associated with higher susceptibility to coronary heart disease(chd) in chinese patients, but no other reports are available from other ethnic groups.methods: iranian patients with confirmed chd, aged over 50 years were compared withhealthy controls for allelic and genotypic frequencies of this polymorphism. patients who didnot suffer from diabetes mellitus wer e entered into this st udy if they showed coronary stenosisof > 50% in at least one artery in the angiography performed after a coronary event. the subjectsand controls were mat ched for age , gender, blood glucose, body mass index and smoking.results: no ass ociation could be found between chd and frequencies of g and a all eles, singlegenotype frequencies of aa, ag, gg, and combine genotypes frequencies of ag + aa versusgg, and ag + gg versus aa.conclusion: this study did not find any association between coronary heart disease ande23k polymorphism in iranian patients. but, this finding is not conclusive due to limitation ofsample size. a subsequent study with a la rger sample siz e is recommended.