Endothelial protein C receptor polymorphisms and risk of myocardial infarction

1 Centro de Investigación, Hospital Universitario La Fe, Valencia, Spain 2 Centro Regional de Hemodonación, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain 3 Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario La Fe, Valencia, Spain 4 Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain 5 Servicio de Cardiología, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain 6 Hemostasis and Thrombosis Research Centre, Department of Hematology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands Correspondence: Francisco España, Hospital Universitario La Fe, Centro de Investigación, Av. Campanar 21, 46009 Valencia, Spain. E-mail: espanya_fra{at}gva.es Background: Haplotypes A1 and A3 in the endothelial protein C receptor gene are tagged by the 4678G/C and 4600A/G polymorphisms, respectively, and have been reported to influence the risk of venous thromboembolism. We assessed whether these haplotypes modify the risk of premature myocardial infarction. Design and Methods: We genotyped these polymorphisms in 689 patients with premature myocardial infarction and 697 control subjects. Activated protein C and soluble endothelial protein C receptor levels were also measured. Results: After adjustment for other cardiovascular risk factors, A1 and A3 haplotypes protected against premature myocardial infarction (odds ratio 0.7, 95% CI 0.4–0.8, p =0.044 and 0.5, 0.3–0.6, p