Association study between expression and rs3761548 of FOXP3 gene with the occurrence of acute coronary syndrome

Introduction: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is the most terrible and catastrophic form of coronary artery disease. Development of ACS has a multifactorial nature and is influenced by different factors such as genetic and environmental risk factors. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) participate in inflammatory responses, reduce plaque formation and have a potential role in the attenuation of atherosclerosis initiation and evolution. FOXP3 gene is a critical gene for the function and development of Treg cells and its dysregulation associated with inflammatory diseases such as ACS. In this study, we evaluated the expression of FOXP3 in the peripheral blood of patients with ACS. Furthermore, we performed the following study to evaluate the role of rs3761548 (C/A) and occurrence of ACS in Iranian patients.Methods: In this case-control study, 214 individuals were enrolled, including 104 ACS patients and 110 healthy controls. The expression levels of FOXP3 genes was investigated by real time PCR method. Genotyping was performed using PCR-RFLP for rs3761548. Statistical analysis performed using the SNPStats and REST2009 software.Results: Totally, FOXP3 mRNA levels were significantly decreased in patients with ACS compared with healthy controls (P-value= 0.029). In addition, a significant decrease associated with female patients compared with normal female subjects (P-value= 0.020). No significant change has been detected in FOXP3 expression in male patients compared with normal male subjects. Moreover, rs3761548 C allele frequency was significantly different in controls subjects compared with ACS patients (P-value= 0.024, odds ratio [OR] =0.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43–0.94).Conclusion: Present data provide evidence for important role of FOXP3 in the susceptibility to ACS in Iranian population. To verify the current results additional studies in diverse ethnic populations are required.