Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 Gene Polymorphism and Its Methylation in Stroke Patients

While low-level MMP-methylation is associated with an increased risk of ischaemic stroke, studies revealing the association between global hypomethylation and the risk for stroke are also scarce with contradictory results (2324). [...]this study aims to fulfil this gap in the literature to address the paucity of studies in the Indian population and explore the probability of genetic variability leading to stroke. A hundred patients (both genders) diagnosed with ischaemic stroke on computed tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as cases and 100 healthy subjects (not suffering from any chronic illness) as controls were recruited for the study using simple random sampling. Patients diagnosed with acute ischaemic stroke, defined by the WHO as the presence of rapidly developed clinical signs of focal or global disturbance of cerebral functions lasting more than 24 h with no apparent cause other than of vascular origin and proven by a CT scan or MRI, were included in the study if they agreed to participate. Patients suffering from myocardial infarction or unstable angina, severe heart failure, atrial fibrillation, aortic dissection, deep coma, resistant hypertension, apart from those receiving thrombolytic therapy and lipidlowering drugs, were excluded from the study.