Angiotensinogen-M235T as a risk factor for myocardial infarction in Asian populations: a genetic association study and a bioinformatics approach

AIM: To investigate if there is an association between M235T polymorphism of angiotensinogen gene and myocardial infarction (MI) risk and perform a meta-analysis and an in silico approach. METHODS: This case-control study included 340 participants (155 MI patients and 185 controls) examined at Kashan University of Medical Sciences (Kashan, Iran) between 2013 and 2015. Meta-analysis included 25 studies with 6334 MI patients and 6711 controls. Bioinformatics tools were applied to evaluate the impact of M235T polymorphism on angiotensinogen function and structure. RESULTS: Genetic association study revealed a significant association between TT genotype (odds ratio [OR] 2.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-4.00, P=0.029) and T allele (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.06-1.99, P=0.021) and MI risk. Meta-analysis also revealed a significant association between M235T polymorphism and MI risk in allelic (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.10-2.18, P=0.012) and recessive (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.13-2.53, P=0.010) models within Asian population. In silico-analysis revealed that M235T fundamentally changed the function of angiotensinogen (score 32; expected accuracy 66%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that M235T polymorphism might be a helpful biomarker for screening of susceptible individuals for MI in Asian population.