Polymorphism of SLC6A2 gene does not influence outcome of myocardial 123 I- m IBG scintigraphy in patients with chronic heart failure

The net, encoded by slc6a2, is responsible for presynaptic ne-reuptake. 123i-mibg is clinically used to evaluate cardiac sympathetic function. however, it is unknown if polymorphism of slc6a2 influences cardiac sympathetic activity as assessed with 123i-mibg. therefore we studied the influence of slc6a2 snps on myocardial 123i-mibg parameters in chf. forty-nine adults with stable chf (age 66.5 ± 8.1 years, lvef 22.3 ± 6.4) were enrolled. fifteen minutes (early) and 4 hours (late) after administration of 123i-mibg planar images were acquired. the h/m ratio was calculated from the manually drawn roi over the left ventricle and a fixed mediastinal roi. fourteen exons of the slc6a2 gene were analyzed from whole blood samples. we found 6 different slc6a2 snps, although none were functional. lvef was the only independent predictor for early (adjusted r 2 = 0.063, p = 0.045) and late h/m ratio (adjusted r 2 = 0.116, p = 0.010). nt-probnp was the only independent predictor for 123i-mibg wo (adjusted r 2 = 0.074, p = 0.032). slc6a2 snps were not associated with any myocardial 123i-mibg-derived parameter. in this specific chf population polymorphism of slc6a2 gene was not associated with any 123i-mibg derived parameters.