An association study between polymorphisms of the Fractalkine receptor gene, CX3CR1, and cerebral infarction in the Han Chinese population

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the association between polymorphisms of CX3CR1 and the occurrence, neurological rehabilitation and 3-month outcome of cerebral infarction in the Han Chinese population. Methods We investigated the V249I and T280M mutations of CX3CR1 in 308 consecutive Han Chinese patients that were diagnosed with cerebral infarction and 294 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects. The patients were classified with Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project (OCSP) classification, evaluated with a National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score for an acute stage of stroke and assessed with a Barthel Index (BI) score 3 months after stroke. Polymorphic genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results We found no statistically significant difference in the V249I and T280M polymorphisms between the patients and controls. The I249 and M280 allele frequencies of CX3CR1 were not significantly different between the patients and controls. No differences were observed in the genotype distributions and allele frequencies of CX3CR1 among the OCSP stroke subtypes. No statistically significant association was found between the polymorphisms of CX3CR1 and NIHSS scores of cerebral infarction at the acute stage or with the 3-month BI scores obtained after cerebral infarction. Conclusion Our results demonstrated that the polymorphisms of CX3CR1 might not associate with the occurrence, neurological rehabilitation and 3-month outcome of cerebral infarction in the Han Chinese population.