Genetic association of pro-inflammatory cytokine gene polymorphisms with coronary artery disease (CAD) in a North Indian population

Background: Cytokines regulate the expression of inflammatory molecules which destabilize the atheromatic plaques. This study focuses on studying the association of inflammatory cytokine polymorphisms like TNF-α -308 (G/A), TNF-β +252 (A/G), IL-6 -174 (G/C) and IL-6 -597 (G/A), and IFN-ɣ +874 (T/A) with coronary artery disease (CAD) among north Indian patients. Materials and methods: 143 CAD and 137 normal healthy controls were recruited in this study. DNA extraction was carried out by high salting out method. TNF-α -308 (G/A) (rs1800797), TNF-β +252 (A/G) (rs909253), IL-6 -174 (G/C) (rs1800795), IL6 -597 (G/A) (rs1800797), and IFN-ɣ +874 (T/A) (rs2430561) SNPs were genotyped by TaqMan®SNP genotyping assays. Different statistical analyses were performed using SPSS v 22.0 and SNPStats. p≤0.05 was considered significant. Results: Significant risk association with CAD was found for TNF-α -308 (G/A) “A” allele (OR =5.6, CI 1.8-17.4, p=0.001) and TNF-β +252 (A/G) “G” allele (OR=3.4, CI=1.9-6.0, p<0.001). However, no statistical significance was found for IL-6 -174 (G/C) or IL6 -597 (G/A), with CAD. TNF-α -308 (G/A), and TNF-β +252 (A/G) haplotype “GG” “AG” increased CAD risk significantly (GG haplotype, adjusted OR = 2.6, CI 1.4-5.0, p=0.003 and AG haplotype OR =8.5, CI 2.2-33.35, p=0.002) after adjustments for age, sex, TC, TG, HDL, APOB, smoking and diet. Discussion: The present study found significant risk association for TNF-α -308 (G/A), and TNF-β +252 (A/G) genotypes, alleles and haplotypes, with CAD in a North Indian Population

Microscopic Perspective of Synergy between Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance and Disruption of Dye Aggregates in Metal Nanoparticle-Enhanced Fluorescence

The interaction of rose bengal (RB) aggregates with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is investigated to understand the factors that contribute toward metal nanopaticle enhanced fluorescence (MEF), such as reproducibility, spectral shift, and distortion. Various shapes and sizes of RB aggregates (spherical, rods, and fibrils) are formed upon preparing films from their solution in solvent with different polarities. These molecular aggregates are disrupted in the presence of AgNPs, resulting in different enhancement factors, not only because of MEF but also due to hindrance to aggregation-caused quenching. Microspectroscopic studies provide valuable insights into the microheterogeneity of these mixed aggregates. Interestingly, the excited state decay pathways remain the same at the nanosecond time scale for different emission wavelengths. Additionally, the lifetime distribution is very narrow due to the interaction of RB deaggregates with the plasmonic AgNPs