¹Human Genetics Division, School of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

Correspondence: Dr S Ye, Human Genetics Division, Duthie Building MP 808, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK. E-mail: sy1@soton.ac.uk

Received 20 April 2005; Revised 17 May 2005; Accepted 18 May 2005; Published online 23 June 2005.

Abstract

A recent large-scale, genome-wide association study of single nucleotide polymorphisms showed a strong association between susceptibility to myocardial infarction and the Thr26Asn polymorphism in the lymphotoxin- (LTA) gene. In the present study, we investigated whether the LTA Thr26Asn polymorphism was associated with the extent of coronary atherosclerosis in a large cohort (n=1082) of well-documented coronary artery disease patients. Thr26Asn genotypes showed a significant different distribution in male patients, when stratified according to the number of diseased coronary arteries, with an odds ratio of 1.98 (95% CI 1.22–3.22) for multiple-vessel disease in patients of the Asn/Asn genotype, compared with patients of the Thr/Thr or Thr/Asn genotype (P=0.006). Thus, further to the recent finding that LTA gene variation is associated with susceptibility to coronary heart disease, the present study provides evidence of an association between LTA genotype and the extent of coronary atherosclerosis.