Influence of COL1A2 gene variants on the incidence of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage in a Chinese population.

Type I collagen (transcribed by COL1A1 and COL1A2 genes) is important for maintaining vessel wall elasticity and is a critical part of the extracellular matrix. We conducted a case-control study to investigate the role of the COL1A2 rs42524 polymorphism in the development of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage. Between January 2012 and December 2014, a total of 227 patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage and 227 controls were selected from the Affiliated Hospital of Yanan University (China). Genotyping of the COL1A2 rs42524 polymorphism was performed using polymerase chain reaction coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism. By logistic regression analysis, we found that the CC genotype was associated with increased risk of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage as compared to the GG genotype (OR = 12.67, 95%CI = 3.03-112.11). In a dominant model, the GC + CC genotype of the COL1A2 rs42524 polymorphism was associated with a 2.57-fold increased risk of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage as compared to the GG genotype. In a recessive model, the CC genotype of the COL1A2 rs42524 polymorphism was correlated with a higher risk of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage as compared to the GG + GC genotype (OR = 12.07, 95%CI = 2.89-106.75). The GC and CC genotypes of the COL1A2 rs42524 polymorphism were associated with a substantial risk of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage among patients who consumed alcohol and used tobacco. In conclusion, our study suggests that the COL1A2 rs42524 polymorphism is associated with the development of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, particularly in conjunction with tobacco use and alcohol consumption.

Clinical application of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T test in acute myocardial infarction diagnosis.

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical application of a high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) test in the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Serum levels of hs-cTnT and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) were detected in 240 AMI patients and 200 healthy donors and used to plot receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. A clinically applicable diagnostic cut-off value of hs-cTnT was determined from the ROC curve and the diagnostic accuracy of hs-cTnT and cTnI levels in AMI were compared.The serum hs-cTnT levels in the AMI group were higher than 0.014 ng/mL (the 99th percentile of the healthy population), among which hs-cTnT levels in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) were higher than in patients with non-STEMI (NSTEMI). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for hs-cTnT was significantly higher than for cTnI, and the detection combining hs-cTnT and creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB) further increased the AUC. When 0.014 ng/mL was set as the cut-off value for hs-cTnT, the diagnostic sensitivity for AMI reached 100% but the specificity was only 45.5%. The diagnostic ability of hs-cTnT for AMI peaked at a cut-off value of 0.035 ng/mL, resulting in the highest Youden index (0.654) and sensitivity and specificity values of 91.8 and 74.9%, respectively. The diagnostic utility of the hs-cTnT test for AMI is superior to the traditional cTnI method. However, since hs-cTnT levels of non-AMI patients can be over the diagnostic cut-off value, further studies are necessary to define clinically applicable cut-off values of hs-cTnT.