The Relationship Between Coronary Artery Ectasia and PAI-1 4G/5G Gene Polymorphisms

Abstract Background: Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is defined as diffuse or segmental dilatation of the coronary artery exceeding 1.5 times greater than the normal adjacent vessel diameter. The etiology of CAE is still not clarified. Higher plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) concentrations have been related to aortic aneurysms, possibly resulting from occlusion of vasa vasorum, followed by diminished vessel wall supply. Whether the same process has a role in coronary artery ectasia is not known. This study aims to determine whether there is a relationship between pai-1 gene polymorphism and coronary artery ectasia. Methods: 53 patients with CAE were included in the study group, and 52 participants with similar patient characteristics and normal coronary arteries were included in the control group.The PAI-1 4G/5G polymorphism was genotyped by real-time PCR, using melting curve analysis of LightCycler 480 II. Results: Genotype frequencies in groups were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (p=1.00). There was no difference in pai-1 gene polymorphism between the two groups. Conclusion: Our findings showed that -675 4G/5G polymorphism in the PAI-1 gene might not be a risk factor for the development of CAE