The role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene G894T and intron 4 VNTR polymorphisms in hemodialysis patients with vascular access thrombosis

Objective: Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene is a candidate gene in cardiovascular and renal diseases. Several polymorphic variations have been identified in eNOS gene. We investigated a potential role of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) thrombosis and intron 4 and G894T polymorphisms in chronic renal failure. Methods: We performed a case-control observational study involving 79 with/without AVF thrombosis in chronic renal failure patients. All subjects were genotyped by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism. Genotype distribution and allele frequencies were compared between groups using the chi-square test. Results: Genotype frequencies in patients with thrombosis were not significantly different from those of patients without thrombosis for eNOS G894T polymorphism (p=0.1). eNOS gene intron 4 a allele distributions seems to be associated with thrombosis in the groups. Conclusion: This study revealed that there was an association between eNOS intron 4 polymorphism and thrombosis in chronic renal failure patients. This data will be helpful in planning further eNOS association studies in vascular access thrombosis.