RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that ethnicity can make a significant difference to the likelihood of thromboembolic stroke related to atrial fibrillation. Ethnic differences have been shown to alter inflammatory and haemostatic factors; however, this may all be confounded by differences in cardiovascular risk factors between different ethnicity. The impact of different ethnicities on the thrombogenic profile is not known. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in markers of inflammation, endothelial function and tissue remodelling between Caucasian and Indian populations with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). METHODS: Patients with structurally normal hearts undergoing catheter ablation for SVT were studied. This study included 23 Australian (Caucasian) patients from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, Australia and 24 Indian (Indian) patients from the Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. Blood samples were collected from the femoral vein, and right and left atria. Blood samples were analysed for the markers of endothelial function (ADMA, ET-1), inflammation (CD40L, VCAM-1, ICAM-1), and tissue remodelling (MMP-9, TIMP-1) using ELISA. RESULTS: The study populations were well matched for cardiovascular risk factors and the absence of structural heart disease. No difference in the echocardiographic measurements between the two ethnicities was found. In this context, there was no difference in markers of inflammation, endothelial function or tissue remodelling between the two SVT populations. CONCLUSION: Caucasian and Indian populations demonstrate similar inflammatory, endothelial function or tissue remodelling profiles. This study suggests a lack of an impact of different ethnicity in these populations in terms of thrombogenic risk.
RESUMEN
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is one of the commonest forms of vasculitis in the elderly, and may result in blindness and stroke. The pathogenesis of GCA is not understood, although environmental, infectious and genetic risk factors are implicated. One gene of interest is PTPN22, encoding lymphoid protein tyrosine phosphatase (Lyp), expressed exclusively in immune cells, which is proposed to be an 'archetypal non-HLA autoimmunity gene'. The minor allele of a functional PTPN22 single nucleotide polymorphism (rs2476601, R620W), which disrupts an interaction motif in the protein, was originally reported to be associated with biopsy-proven GCA in Spanish patients, with supporting data from three replicate Northern European studies. Recently, this observation was extended with additional patients and controls, and studies encompassing European, Scandinavian, UK and American patients. The aim of our study was to determine the association between PTPN22 rs2476601 (R620W) and biopsy-proven GCA in an Australian case cohort.
