Role of cytochrome epoxygenase (CYP2J2) in the pathophysiology of coronary artery disease in South Indian population.

BACKGROUND: The cytochrome P-450 2J2 (CYP2J2) is known to be one of the major enzymes of epoxygenase pathway of arachidonic acid in extrahepatic tissues, which produces series of regioisomeric cis-epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) such as 5,6-, 8,9-, 11,12-, and 14,15-EETs. In the present study, we analyzed the impact of a genetic variant in CYP2J2 on coronary artery disease (CAD) in the Telangana region of Indian population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The case-control study consisted of 100 CAD cases and 110 healthy controls. The deoxyribonucleic acid was extracted using the salting out method. Genotyping and gene expression was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism and real-time-PCR methods. RESULTS: In the present study, the percentage of smokers, alcoholics, hypertensive patients, and diabetics was high. Increase in fasting glucose, urea, creatinine, fasting triglycerides, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein (TC/HDL), LDL/HDL, homocysteine, and C-reactive protein levels were significantly higher in patients with CAD than in controls (p < 0.001). CYP2J2 G-50T was associated with CAD (p = 0.04). The mRNA expression of CYP2J2 showed altered gene expression in this study among CAD patients in comparison with control (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: A functionally relevant polymorphism of the CYP2J2 gene was independently associated with an increased risk of CAD.

TNF-alpha -308G/A and -238G/A polymorphisms and its protein network associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Several reports document the role of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and lipid metabolism in the context of acute inflammation as a causative factor in obesity-associated insulin resistance and as one of the causative parameter of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Our aim was to investigate the association between -308G/A and -238G/A polymorphisms located in the promoter region of the TNF-α gene in T2DM in the Indian population with bioinformatics analysis of TNF-α protein networking with an aim to find new target sites for the treatment of T2DM. Demographics of 100 diabetes patients and 100 healthy volunteers were collected in a structured proforma and 3 ml blood samples were obtained from the study group, after approval of Institutional Ethics Committee of the hospital (IEC). The information on clinical parameters was obtained from medical records. Genomic DNA was extracted; PCR-RFLP was performed using TNF-α primers specific to detect the presence of SNPs. Various bioinformatics tools such as STRING software were used to determine its network with other associated genes. The PCR-RFLP studies showed that among the -238G/A types the GG genotype was 87%, GA genotype was 12% and AA genotype was 1%. Almost a similar pattern of results was obtained with TNF-α -308G/A polymorphism. The results obtained were evaluated statistically to determine the significance. By constructing TNF-α protein interaction network we could analyze ontology and hubness of the network to identify the networking of this gene which may influence the functioning of other genes in promoting T2DM. We could identify new targets in T2DM which may function in association with TNF-α. Through hub analysis of TNF-α protein network we have identified three novel proteins RIPK1, BIRC2 and BIRC3 which may contribute to TNF-mediated T2DM pathogenesis. In conclusion, our study indicated that some of the genotypes of TNF-α -308G/A, -238G/A were not significantly associated to type 2 diabetes mellitus, but TNF-α -308G/A polymorphism was reported to be a potent risk factor for diabetes in higher age (>45) groups. Also, the novel hub proteins may serve as new targets against TNF-α T2DM pathogenesis.

Polymorphism of CYP3A4 2 and eNOS genes in the diabetic patients with hyperlipidemia undergoing statin treatment.

In individuals with diabetes, a log linear relationship exists between cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and Statins, a cholesterol lowering drug, have a complex relationship. Statins are potent modulators of CYP3A4 2 enzyme and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) functions in a number of cholesterol-independent, cardio protective actions in T2D. The aim of this study was to evaluate the CYP3A4 2 and eNOS gene mutations in a large number of T2D patients undergoing statin treatments. Blood samples were collected from 386 subjects in which 196 diabetic patients with hyperlipidemia were undergoing statin treatment (108 females and 88 males). The 190 healthy non-diabetic volunteers formed the control group. We investigated single nucleotide polymorphisms in diabetic patients and controls, and found that the statin therapy was not found to be effective in lowering LDL-cholesterol levels. Statistical analysis showed that T2D patients had significantly higher values of not only glucose levels but also a very high value of Triglycerides and cholesterol at the time of presentation. Our results for CYP3A4 2 showed that the genotype TT (wild type) had lower LDL when compared to TC (heterozygous). Similarly, the genotype TC (heterozygous) had lower LDL when compared to CC (homozygous). A similar trend was observed in the GG (wild type) and GT (heterozygous) of eNOS. In conclusion, we have described for the first time a significant correlation of statin treatment and CYP3A4 2 and eNOS gene polymorphisms in T2D, suggesting a new genetic susceptibility factor for insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia in T2D.