Association of Arginase I Gene Polymorphism with the Risk of Atherosclerosis in a Sample of Iraqi Patients

Arginase is one of the enzymes that play an important role in atherosclerosis because of its complicated function in vascular cells. This study was aimed at determining the relationship between genetic polymorphism in three loci in arginase I gene and the incidence of atherosclerosis in a sample of Iraqi patients with an emphasis on the most common SNPs associated with atherosclerosisrs; rs 2781666, rs 2781668 and rs 60389358.

Reliaprep^TM blood gDNA Miniprep System/Promega (USA) was used to extract total genomic DNA from blood samples. The amplification products for ARG I gene were sequenced and data were analyzed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information/single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SNP).

Data showed that the genotype distribution of rs2781666 G>T was significant (P<0.01) in atherosclerosis patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared to healthy controls as the occurrence of GT heterozygous in those patients was higher than in healthy controls. On the hand, these heterozygous alleles in patients who underwent diagnostic catheterization were not significantly different compared to healthy controls. Meanwhile, homozygous polymorphic alleles TT in PCI patients were significantly different (P<0.01) compared to healthy controls. Results also showed that rs 2781668 C> T SNP was not associated with the incidence of atherosclerosis in patients groups, PCI and DIG, compared to healthy controls. Also, heterozygous CT SNP for rs 60389358 in DIG patients was significantly different (P<0.01) compared to healthy controls.

Our finding suggested that genetic variations in ARGI may predispose subjects to T2DM, but not to atherosclerosis. This finding reinforces our interest in studies focusing on the role ARG I in different diseases.