Examination of genetic effects of polymorphisms in the MCP-1 and CCR2 genes on MI in the Icelandic population

Monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and its receptor CCR2 may play a role in mediating atherosclerosis. The polymorphisms MCP-1 −2518A > G and CCR2 190G > A have been reported to be associated with increased risk for developing atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of these polymorphisms and the MCP-1 −2076A > T polymorphism on the development of myocardial infarction (MI) in an Icelandic cohort. Four hundred and sixty MI survivors and 1842 disease free controls were genotyped. No significant difference in the frequencies of any of the polymorphisms between the cases and the controls was found, with OR = 0.87 (95% CI 0.71–1.08) for MCP-1 −2518G, OR = 1.05 (95% CI 0.84–1.33) for MCP-1 −2076T and OR = 0.93 (95% CI 0.71–1.23) for CCR2 190A. An effect of an OR for MI of 1.4 for the MCP-1 −2518G, MCP-1 −2076T and CCR2 190A alleles could be detected in a cohort of the size of this study with power = 0.8 and α = 0.05. In our cohort we were unable to demonstrate a significant association of the MCP-1 −2518A > G, MCP-1 −2076A > T or CCR2 190G > A polymorphisms with MI. These results do not support the extent of risk associated with developing MI previously reported for the CCR2 190 and MCP-1 −2518 polymorphisms.