C242T polymorphism of NADPH oxidase p22phox gene reduces the risk of coronary artery disease in a random sample of Egyptian population.

The p22phox protein subunit is essential for NADPH oxidase activity. The prevalence of C242T variants of p22phox gene was studied in 101 healthy Egyptian controls and 104 acute myocardial infarction (AMI) Egyptian patients. Contribution of oxidative stress, represented by serum oxidized-LDL (ox-LDL), in development of AMI was also examined and correlated with C242T gene variants. Genotyping and ox-LDL were assessed by PCR-RFLP and ELISA. Results showed that wild type CC genotype is prevalent in 27 % of controls; CT and TT are in 72 and 1 %. In patients, the distribution was 40.2, 59.8 and 0 % for CC, CT and TT; respectively, showing a significant difference (p = 0.0259). Serum ox-LDL levels were higher in patients than controls (p ≤ 0.0001). Subjects having CT genotype had lower levels of ox-LDL than CC genotype (p ≤ 0.005). C242T polymorphism of p22phox gene of NADPH oxidase is a novel genetic marker associated with reduced susceptibility to AMI.