Association of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene Polymorphism with Myocardial Infarction in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Background: Many studies have reported increased serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in patients with acute coronary syndromes. We searched for the association between either the –634 C/G or the insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the VEGF gene and myocardial infarction (MI) in subjects with type 2 diabetes. Methods: 143 subjects with type 2 diabetes and MI were compared to 228 diabetic subjects without coronary artery disease (CAD). VEGF serum levels were analyzed in 94 subjects with type 2 diabetes without CAD. Results: A significantly higher frequency of the CC genotype of the –634 C/G VEGF polymorphism was found in the patients with MI compared to the patients without CAD (17.5 vs. 9.2%; p = 0.019), whereas the insertion/deletion VEGF polymorphism failed to yield an association with MI. Significantly higher VEGF serum levels were demonstrated in subjects with the CC genotype compared to those with the other (CG + GG) genotypes (60.4 ± 32.1 vs. 44.1 ± 23.5 ng/l; p < 0.01). Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that the CC genotype of the –634 C/G VEGF gene might be a risk factor for MI in Caucasians with type 2 diabetes of duration of more than 10 years.