The influence of genotype on vascular endothelial growth factor and regulation of myocardial collateral blood flow in patients with acute and chronic coronary heart disease

AbstractObjective: To test the hypothesis that mutations in the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene are associated with plasma concentration of VEGF and subsequently the ability to influence coronary collateral arteries in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: Blood samples from patients with chronic ischemic heart disease (n=53) and acute coronary syndrome (n=61) were analysed. Coronary collaterals were scored from diagnostic biplane coronary angiograms. Results: The plasma concentration of VEGF was increased in patients with acute compared to chronic CHD (p=0.01). The genotype frequencies differed significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in three of 15 examined loci. Four new mutations in addition to the already described were identified. The VEGF haplotype did not seem to predict plasma VEGF concentration (p=0.5). There was an association between the genotype in locus VEGF-1154 and coronary collateral size (p=0.03) and a significant association between the VEGF plasma con...