BACKGROUND: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a cardiovascular disease characterized by high morbidity and mortality. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor, named kinase insert domain-containing receptor (KDR, or VEGFR2), which are involved with angiogenesis and vascular repair, could partly contribute to the development of CHD. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate the potential correlations between genetic polymorphisms on VEGF and KDR and susceptibility to CHD, and the integrative role of SNPs combined on susceptibility to CHD were also studied.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Venous blood samples gathered from 533 DCM patients and 533 healthy controls were used to genotype tag-SNPs of VEGF (rs699947, rs2010963, and rs3025010) and KDR (rs2071559, rs2305948, and rs1870377) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and SNaPshot assay. Investigations of potential haplotypes were conducted on the basis of SHEsis software. The odds ratio (ORs) and relevant 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to estimate associations of SNPs/haplotypes with risk of CHD. Multivariate logistic regression was also performed, taking certain clinical characteristics (e.g., BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, diabetes, and hypertension) into consideration. All statistical analyses were done with STATA Version 12.0 software.

RESULTS: Our results suggest that rs699947 (T>C) on KDR are associated with susceptibility to CHD under the dominant model before (OR=1.35, 95% CI: 1.05–1.73, P=0.019) and after (OR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.01–1.76, P=0.044), allowing for clinical characteristics (e.g., BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, diabetes, and hypertension). rs2305948 (G>A) and rs1870377 (A>T) on VEGF were also found to be associated with risk of CHD under the recessive model after adjustment with multivariate regression analyses (OR=1.21, 95% CI: 1.02–1.43, P=0.029; OR=2.54, 95% CI: 1.13–5.75, P=0.025); OR=2.83, 95% CI: 1.47–5.46, P=0.002, respectively). Additionally, haplotype analyses revealed that integration of 5 SNPs would either raise (e.g. C-C-T-G-T and T-G-T-G-T) or reduce (e.g. C-C-C-G-T, T-C-T-G-A, T-C-T-G-T, and T-G-T-G-A) risk of CHD.

CONCLUSIONS: Genetic polymorphisms on VEGF (rs699947) and KDR (rs2305948and rs1870377), as well as relevant haplotypes, may serve as genetic markers that might be useful in future investigations on the pathogenesis of CHD.

Keywords: Coronary Disease - genetics, Case-Control Studies, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype, Haplotypes, healthy volunteers, Multivariate Analysis, Odds Ratio, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Regression Analysis, Risk Factors, Software, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - genetics, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2 - genetics