TLR-4 and CD14 Genotypes and Soluble CD14: Could They Predispose to Coronary Atherosclerosis?

Background: Inflammatory mechanisms are key to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Functional polymorphisms of TLR-4, Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile, CD14 promoter area C260T polymorphism and plasma levels of soluble CD14 are studied in subjects with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). Methods: DNA was obtained from 100 human paraffin-embedded aortic specimens, from cadavers with known coronary atheromatosis (Group A) and 100 blood samples from patients with CAD, as detected by cardiac Multi-Detector-row-Computed-Tomography (MDCT) (Group B). Our control group consisted of 100 healthy individuals (Group C). Genotyping was performed by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RFLP-PCR). Plasma levels of sCD14 were measured with ELISA. Results: For TLR-4 Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile polymorphisms, no statistically significant differences were observed. Regarding the C260T polymorphism, frequencies of T allele were significantly higher in the control group compared to the case group (p = 0.05). The Odds Ratio (OR) showed statistically significant association of TT genotype with healthy individuals (OR 0.25, 95% Confidence Interval CI 0.10–0.62, p = 0.0017). Plasma levels of sCD14 in patients with CAD (mean value = 1.35 μg/mL) were reduced when compared to reference value. Conclusions: The studied polymorphisms ofTLR-4 showed no association with CAD. Conversely, the functional polymorphism of CD14 has a statistically significant difference in expression between healthy and affected by CAD individuals.