Association of CCL5 rs2107538, and CCL2 rs3760396 Gene Polymorphisms with the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease.

BACKGROUND

Chemokines are proinflammatory cytokines that play key roles in development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Chemokine-induced recruitment of peripheral leucocytes to tissues is a crucial step in the CVD progression. CC chemokines ligand 5, 2 (CCL5 and CCL2), have been characterized as emerging inflammatory biomarkers of atherosclerotic CVD. The aim of this study was to find out whether genetic polymorphisms of CCL5 -403 G>A (rs2107538) and CCL2 -927 G>C, (rs3760396) were associated with the risk of CVD.

METHODS

In this case-control study, 500 Iranian individuals including 250 CVD patients and 250 healthy subjects as the control group participated in 2017. Genotyping of CCL5 -403 G>A and CCL2 -927 G>C polymorphisms were executed using Tetra-ARMS PCR method.

RESULTS

At genotypic level both CCL5 -403 G>A and CCL2 -927 G>C polymorphisms were not associated with the risk of CVD (>0.05), even after adjustment by age, sex, race, and history of hypertension, DM and smoking. However, the CCL2 -927 C allele was associated with an increased risk of CVD (OR=1.42, =0.050) with a higher prevalence in CVD patient than in controls (17% vs. 12%). Moreover, the haplotype analysis revealed that CCL5/CCL2 haplotype (G/C) was a risk factor for CVD (OR=2.13, =0.001), and that carriers of this haplotype were at 2.13-fold higher risk of CVD than subjects with G/G haplotype.

CONCLUSION

CCL2 -927 C variant and CCL5/CCL2 haplotype (G/C) were associated with susceptibility to CVD, and were risk factors for CVD in our population but more studies with large sample size are recommended.