TLR2 and age-related diseases: potential effects of Arg753Gln and Arg677Trp polymorphisms in acute myocardial infarction.

Inflammation is a key component of immune system. It is involved in both defense and pathophysiological events maintaining the dynamic homeostasis of host organism. Its function is controlled by innate immunity genes. Both their polymorphisms and environmental conditions give rise to different phenotypes in human population. Proinflammatory genotype may be beneficial in early life but not in old people. With advancing age, indeed, it increases the vulnerability and the intensity to inflammatory reactions responsible for the chronic inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction (MI). Several studies have looked for detecting a genetic risk profile that might allow a pharmacogenomic approach to prevent and treat age-related diseases such as MI. We have evaluated the possible association between two polymorphisms of TLR2 gene—Arg677Trp and Arg753Gln—and MI. However, we found no association between TLR2 polymorphisms and MI.