Association of the interleukine-6 polymorphism with catheter-induced coronary artery spasm in Egyptians.

Background: The role of coronary artery spasm (CAS) was extended beyond variant angina to ischemic heart disease in general, including effort angina, unstable angina, acute myocardial infarction (MI) and sudden death. It is difficult and cumbersome to examine CAS during coronary angiography. Risk factors for CAS include smoking and genetic polymorphisms.

Aim: We aimed to investigate the association of the interleukin-6 (IL-6) polymorphism with catheter-induced CAS in Egyptian patients who undergo coronary angiography.

Methods: This is a case-control study. Two hundred patients with chronic coronary artery disease who underwent elective coronary angiography were included in the study. Patients were divided into two groups: the non-CAS group (100 patients) and the CAS group (100 patients). The subjects were genotyped to the -572 C>G (rs 1800796) polymorphism of the IL-6 gene by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Results: We found that patients with CAS have more risk factors for atherosclerosis compared to those without CAS. Smoking, the IL-6 GG genotype, and the G allele were independent risk factors for CAS.

Conclusion: We concluded that the GG genotype and G allele of the IL-6 gene are associated with CAS. Smoking, the GG genotype, and the G allele of the IL-6 gene are independent predictors of catheter-induced CAS.