Study of the Relation between E23K Single Nucleotide Polymorphism of KCNJ11 Gene and Probability of Coronary Heart Disease in Iran

The G to A mutation in KCNJ11; the ATP-sensitive potassium channel subunit, results in glutamate (E) to lysine (K) substitution at codon 23, and the A allele is shown to have a relationship with type II diabetes in our previous study. Their role in coronary heart disease (CHD) is not exactly obvious. We hypothesized that the polymorphism would be associated with increased susceptibility to CHD. The E23K gene polymorphism of KCNJ11 gene was analyzed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods in 55 controls and 73CHD patients. Serum lipids and Fasting Blood Sugar concentrations were measured in all subjects. Among the CHD patients, the frequency of the A allele was higher (34.9% vs. 26.4%, P<0.05) and the frequency of the G allele was lower (65.1% vs. 73.6%, P>0.05) than among controls. No significant differences were found in allele frequencies between CHD and controls (P>0.05). Also, there were no significant differences in GG and combined (GA+AA) genotypes frequencies (42.5% vs. 56.4%, and 57.5% vs. 43.6%, P>0.05). The E23K gene polymorphism in KCNJ11 gene has no association with the high susceptibility to CHD.