Interleukin 8 and Susceptibility to Coronary Artery Disease: a Population Genetics Perspective.

INTRODUCTION: Interleukin 8 is a strong chemoattractant factor for neutrophils and T lymphocytes. We investigated the potential influence of two common polymorphisms of the interleukin-8 gene, -251A/T, and 781C/T on susceptibility to coronary artery disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The hypothesis was tested by screening for the prevalence of the above polymorphisms in 241 angiographically diagnosed coronary artery disease patients compared to 157 selected controls with negative coronary angiography. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We found no significant differences between cases and controls concerning the allelic and genotypic frequencies of both the studied polymorphisms. Nevertheless, a statistically significant lower frequency of the AA containing genotypes was observed in cases presenting with acute coronary syndromes compared to asymptomatic subjects or patients with stable coronary artery disease (OR = 0.44, 95%CI: 0.2-0.98, p = 0.04). The strongest statistical significance was observed in the AA(251)TT(781) combined genotype (OR = 0.34, 95%CI: 0.14-0.85, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the genetic diversity of the interleukin-8 gene influences the clinical manifestation of CAD.