Association of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 −2518A>G polymorphism with occurrence, severity, and outcome in ischemic stroke

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is implicated in promoting atherosclerotic diseases, including stroke. Therefore, several studies have investigated the association between variants of the MCP-1 gene and risk of atherosclerotic diseases. We sought to determine the occurrence of MCP-1 −2518A>G polymorphism in patients with ischemic stroke (IS), and studied its association with the severity of disease and functional outcome after an acute IS. One hundred and forty-five consecutive patients with first ever IS and 145 age- and sex-matched control subjects were recruited. Stroke severity and functional outcome were assessed on admission and at one month post-stroke, respectively. Genotyping for the MCP-1 −2518A>G polymorphism was performed by a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). No significant difference in the frequency of MCP-1 −2518A>G genotypes between IS patients and controls was found, with OR = 0.69 (95 % CI 0.46–1.04, P = 0.08). Moreover, carriage of the G allele was not associated with stroke severity (Scandinavian stroke scale score 33.1 vs. 32.5, respectively, P = 0.71), or poor outcome at 1 month post-stroke (63.9 vs. 59.7 %, respectively, P = 0.61). In conclusion, we were unable to demonstrate a significant association of the MCP-1 −2518A>G gene polymorphism with IS occurrence, severity or functional outcome in a Caucasian population. However, larger studies are necessary to fully elucidate the role of this polymorphism in IS.