Background: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a major cause of death worldwide including Iran.  The risk of developing disease in patients without symptoms is assessed in part by factors that are associated with disease. Among these factors family history points to the significance of genetic component in the risk of CAD. The identification of the genetic variants that confer risk for CAD is essential for detecting high-risk individuals, so preventative life style and therapeutic action can be taken before overt disease develops. So far more than 100 genes have been reported with possible role in developing risk for CAD. Matrix- Gla Protein (MGP) is one of these genes that association of its single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) with CAD has been reported.  Among the polymorphisms, there are two promoter SNPs at position -7 & -138 that their association with CAD has been reported before. Here we investigated the association of these SNPs with CAD in Iranian population.
Methods: 150 cases and 150 controls were selected on the basis of their clinical assessments and angiographic reports. DNA was extracted from blood samples. The genotypes for both SNPs were determined using Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method with size fractionation on Polyacrylamide gel.
Results: The comparison of allele & genotype frequencies between patients and controls showed that there is an excess of A allele at position -7 and T allele at position -138 among patients, although these differences were not significant (p<0.2, and p<0.5 respectively).
Conclusions: This study suggests no association of these SNPs with CAD in Iranian population. Confirmation of this finding needs independent repeat of similar studies.
Keywords: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), Matrix Gla Protein (MGP), Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP).