Compositions for treatment of coronary artery diseases using gene therapy.

摘要

A single point mutation in the human lipoprotein lipase gene which results in an A→G nucleotide change at codon 291 (nucleotide 1127) of the lipoprotein lipase gene, and a substitution of serine for the normal asparagine in the lipoprotein lipase gene product is seen with increased frequency in patients with coronary artery disease, and is associated with an increased susceptibility to coronary artery disease, including in particular premature atherosclerosis. This is expressed as a diminished catalytic activity of lipoprotein lipase, lower HDL- cholesterol levels and higher triglyceride levels. Thus, susceptibility of a human individual to premature atherosclerosis and other forms of coronary artery disease can be evaluated byPPevaluating the sample of DNA for the presence of nucleotides encoding a serine residue as amino acid 291 of the lipoprotein lipase gene product. The presence of a serine residue is indicative of increased susceptibility in the patient. This method may be performed using a kit which contains a pair of primers selected to amplify a region of a human lipoprotein lipase gene spanning amino acid 291 of human lipoprotein lipase.