The T allele of the missense Glu(298)Asp endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene polymorphism is associated with coronary heart disease in younger individuals with high atherosclerotic risk profile

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a protective role during atherogenesis. In the endothelium, NO is synthesised by the constitutive NO synthase (ecNOS). We analysed the relation of the ecNOS Glu(298)Asp and 4a/b gene polymorphisms to coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI) in a population of 3250 German subjects (533 healthy controls and 2717 individuals who underwent coronary angiography). Although in the total sample, the ecNOS T allele was not associated with the risk of CAD (P=0.054) and the extent of this disease (P=0.078), a restriction to younger individuals (age