PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Diz-Kucukkaya, Reyhan
AU  - Inanc, Murat
AU  - Afshar-Kharghan, Vahid
AU  - Zhang, Q Ed
AU  - López, José A
AU  - Pekcelen, Yuksel
TI  - P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 VNTR polymorphisms and risk of thrombosis in the antiphospholipid syndrome
AID  - 10.1136/ard.2007.075945
DP  - 2007 Oct 01
TA  - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
PG  - 1378--1380
VI  - 66
IP  - 10
4099  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/66/10/1378.short
4100  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/66/10/1378.full
SO  - Ann Rheum Dis2007 Oct 01; 66
AB  - Objectives: Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLA) have been shown to enhance thrombus formation by increasing the expression of adhesive receptors such as P-selectin on endothelial cells. The P-selectin counter-receptor on leucocytes is P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1). We have previously described a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism in the mucin-like region of PSGL-1, with three alleles: allele A, 16 repeats; allele B, 15 repeats; and allele C, 14 repeats.Methods: We compared the PSGL-1 VNTR allele and genotype frequencies in 90 patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) with thrombosis, 39 patients with persistent aPLA positivity without thrombosis, and 203 healthy controls.Results: The frequency of the B allele was significantly higher in patients with APS with thrombosis compared with patients without thrombosis (p = 0.023). When we compared the groups by genotype frequencies, we found a markedly higher frequency of the AB genotype in patients with APS with thrombosis than in aPLA-positive patients without thrombosis (38.9% vs 10.3%, p = 0.001) or in normal population (38.9% vs 22.2%, p<0.01).Conclusions: We suggest that the VNTR polymorphism of PSGL-1 is a significant determinant of thrombotic predisposition in patients with APS. Furthermore, risk appears to correlate best with the combination of alleles inherited rather than with the presence of any particular allele.