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

Objective To elucidate the association of plasma factor Ⅶ coagulant activity (FⅦc) w it h the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and to assess the influence 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 indiv iduals were evaluated retrospectively. Plasma FⅦc was measured by one-sta ge prothrombin time, and FⅦ genotype was determined after MspI digestion of polym erase chain reaction-amplified genomic DNA. Serum lipid levels were assessed b y 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±1.06 mmol/L vs 5.5 3±1.08 mmol/L, P<0.05) than controls, but only FⅦc independently co rrelated with the risk of MI (OR=1.04, P<0.01). There were no significant di fferences in FⅦ genotype or allele frequency between patients and controls ( P>0.05). Subjects with the Gln353 allele were associated 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) gro ups, but this correlation was restricted to Arg/Arg genotype (r=0.68, P <0.01). A significant correlation of total serum cholesterol with FⅦc onl y 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 Chin es e. Plasma triglyceride and FⅦ gene MspI polymorphism are two independent d eter minants of FⅦc. Assay of this polymorphism will be helpful in determining who will benefit most from lipid-lowing therapy.