Circulating MCP-1 level and ~2518 gene polymorphism as a marker of nephropathy development in Egyptian patients

Objective: Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is a member of CC chemokine that plays an important role in the recruitment of monocytes/macrophages into renal tubulointerstitium. A biallelic A/G polymorphism at position ~2518 in the MCP-1 gene was found to regulate MCP-1 expression. MCP-1 and its A/G gene polymorphism have been implicated in the pathogenesis of some renal diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of circulating MCP-1 level and the relevance of functional genetic variations of MCP-1 as early predictors of the development of glomerulonephropathy (GN) in Egyptian patients. Methods: This is a case control study that was conducted in 50 GN patients,20 non-GN cases and 20 ethnically matched healthy controls. MCP-1 serum level was detected by ELISA technique,while genotyping of polymorphisms in the MCP-1 genes was performed using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) detection. Results: High MCP-1 circulating levels and subsequently MCP-1 ~2518G polymorphism are associated with the developing of nephropathy irrespective to the underlying etiology. MCP-1 serum level was significantly high when compared with healthy controls (P = 0.0007) and non-GN cases (P = 0.01). There was predominance of A allele at ~2518 of MCP-1 gene in healthy controls (87.5%) and non-GN cases (77.5%). The frequency of the ~2518G MCP-1 polymorphism was significantly higher in GN patients than in healthy controls (P 0.0001; OR= 15.6) and non-GN cases (P 0.0001; OR = 7.7). Interestingly,homozygosity for G allele plays the main role in such association. Conclusion: A/G polymorphism in MCP-1 gene and subsequently high circulating MCP-1 level confer a relevant role in the susceptibility to the development of nephropathy in the Egyptian population denoting that MCP-1 system could be an early predictor of such renal complication. © 2010 Ain Shams University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.