[Association between endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene 4a/b polymorphism and IgA nephropathy].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relation between endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene polymorphism and IgA nephropathy (IgAN). METHODS: The variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism of eNOS gene was analyzed with PCR in 296 Chinese Han patients with IgAN groups and 310 healthy Han subjects from Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province, and the gene frequency and allele frequency were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: In these Chinese Han subjects involved in this study, VNTR of eNOS gene showed 3 genetypes, namely eNOS4a, eNOS4b and eNOS4a/4b. No significant difference was found in the gene frequency between IgAN group and the healthy subjects. CONCLUSIONS: IgAN is not associated with VNTR polymorphism of eNOS gene, and no sufficient evidence has been obtained to establish the relation of eNOS VNTR polymorphism with the genetic factors of IgAN. The role of eNOS gene polymorphism in IgAN can be heterogeneous in regard to different races or areas.