Functional polymorphisms of FGA, encoding a fibrinogen, are associated with susceptibility to venous thromboembolism in a Taiwanese population

• Published in: Human genetics Vol. 119; no. 1-2; pp. 84 - 91
• Main Authors: KO, Yu-Lin, HSU, Lung-An, HSU, Tsu-Shiu, TSAI, Chia-Ti, TENG, Ming-Sheng, WU, Semon, CHANG, Chi-Jen, LEE, Ying-Shiung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer 01.03.2006; Berlin Springer Nature B.V; New York, NY
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Blood and lymphatic vessels; Cardiology. Vascular system; Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids; Diseases of the peripheral vessels. Diseases of the vena cava. Miscellaneous; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Haplotypes; Hospitals; Human; Medical sciences; Polymorphism; Risk factors; Thromboembolism; Taiwan; Vascular disease; Fibrinogen; Deep vein thrombosis; Cardiovascular disease; Genetics; Population; Venous thrombosis; Thromboembolism; Venous disease; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 0340-6717; 1432-1203
• DOI: 10.1007/s00439-005-0102-0

To determine the genetic risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE), this study examined 14 genetic variants from 10 hemostatic genes in 186 Taiwanese VTE patients and the same number of matched controls, which demonstrated FGA (encoding α fibrinogen) Thr312Ala polymorphism was the only variant significantly associated with VTE. Nine genetic polymorphisms on the fibrinogen cluster region of chromosome 4q28 were further studied, in which four FGA polymorphisms were found in strong linkage disequilibrium and were significantly associated with VTE by genotype and allele frequency analyses. Haplotype analysis showed significantly different FGA haplotype frequencies between VTE patients and controls with the haplotype F1, containing -1051G, -3A, 312Ala and TaqI duplication alleles, significantly associated with susceptibility to VTE (P=0.001). Haplotype-pair analysis results also indicated a strong association of the haplotype-pair F1F1 with VTE in various VTE patient subgroups. In vitro functional analysis indicated that FGA -1051G, -3A and TaqI duplication alleles enhanced significantly the transcription level of FGA; however, control subjects with FGA genotypes containing these alleles had no elevated plasma fibrinogen levels. In conclusion, our experimental data indicated that functional genetic variants in FGA are risk factors for VTE in Taiwanese populations. Determination of FGA genotypes will likely contribute to primary prevention of this condition.