Published Online
on December 17, 2007

A more recent version of this article appeared on January 15, 2008

This Article Full Text (PDF) Correction All Versions of this Article: 117/2/185    most recent CIRCULATIONAHA.107.728485v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lieb, W. Articles by Erdmann, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lieb, W. Articles by Erdmann, J. Pubmed/NCBI databases Gene GEO Profiles HomoloGene Protein UniGene Medline Plus Health Information Heart Attack Related Collections Epidemiology Genetics of cardiovascular disease Related Article

Submitted on July 17, 2007
Accepted on October 26, 2007

Lack of Association Between the MEF2A Gene and Myocardial Infarction

Wolfgang Lieb MD, Björn Mayer MD, Inke R. König PhD, Iris Borwitzky MD, Anika Götz PhD, Silke Kain MD, Christian Hengstenberg MD, Patrick Linsel-Nitschke MD, Marcus Fischer MD, Angela Döring MD, H. -Erich Wichmann MD, Thomas Meitinger MD, Reinhold Kreutz MD, Andreas Ziegler PhD, Heribert Schunkert MD, and Jeanette Erdmann PhD^*

From Medizinische Klinik II (W.L., B.M., I.B., A.G., P.L.-N., H.S., J.E.), Institut für Humangenetik (W.L.), and Institut für Medizinische Biometrie und Statistik (I.R.K., A.G., A.Z.), Universität zu Lübeck, Lübeck; Institut für klinische Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Charité, Berlin (S.K., R.K.); Klinik und Poliklinik für Innere Medizin II, Universität Regensburg, Regensburg (C.H., M.F.); Institut für Epidemiologie (A.D., H.-E.W.) and Institut für Humangenetik (T.M.), GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Neuherberg; Institut für Medizinische Informationsverarbeitung, Biometrie und Epidemiologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München (H.-E.W.); and Insitut für Humangenetik, Technische Universität München, Klinikum rechts der Isar, München (T.M.), Germany.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.erdmann{at}cardiogenics.eu.

Background—Coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI) are caused in part by genetic factors. Recently, the MEF2A gene was linked to MI/CAD in a single pedigree with autosomal-dominant pattern of inheritance. In addition, genetic variants within the gene have been associated with MI in case-control settings, producing inconsistent results.

Methods and Results—The MEF2A gene was sequenced in MI patients from 23 MI families (5 affected members per family), but no mutation was identified in any of these extended families. Moreover, the Pro279Leu variant in exon 7 was analyzed in 1181 unrelated MI patients with a positive family history for MI/CAD, in 533 patients with sporadic MI, and in 2 control populations (n=1021 and n=1055), showing no evidence for association with MI/CAD. In addition, a (CAG)n repeat in exon 11 was genotyped in 543 sporadic MI patients and in 1190 controls without evidence for association with MI. Finally, analyzing 11 single-nucleotide polymorphisms from the GeneChip Mapping 500K Array, genotyped in 1644 controls and 753 cases, failed to provide evidence for association (region-wide P=0.23).

Conclusions—Studying independent samples of >1700 MI patients, 2 large control populations, and multiple families with apparently mendelian inheritance of the disease, we found no evidence for any linkage or association signal in the MEF2A gene.

Key words: coronary disease • epidemiology • genetics • myocardial infarction

Related Article:

Clinical Summaries
Circulation 2008 117: 127. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				I. Guella, V. Rimoldi, R. Asselta, D. Ardissino, M. Francolini, N. Martinelli, D. Girelli, F. Peyvandi, M. Tubaro, P. A. Merlini, et al. Association and Functional Analyses of MEF2A as a Susceptibility Gene for Premature Myocardial Infarction and Coronary Artery Disease Circ Cardiovasc Genet, April 1, 2009; 2(2): 165 - 172. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]