Importance of NOS3 Genetic Polymorphisms in the Risk of Development of Ischemic Stroke in the Turkish Population

Abstract

In the present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between endothelial nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3) G894T, T-786C, and intron 4 variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) variants, alone or in combination, and the risk of incidence of ischemic stroke in the Turkish population. The genotypes for all polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques on 245 ischemic stroke patients and 145 controls. In the case-control analysis, no significant difference was observed between stroke patients and controls with respect to NOS3 G894T, T-786C, and intron 4 VNTR polymorphisms genotype and allele frequency distribution. However, the copresence of G894T and intron 4 VNTR risk-elevating genotypes in the same individual increased the risk of stroke seven times (odds ratio=7.083, 95% confidence interval=0.866-57.963, p=0.029).