Background: The intermediate filament protein, nestin, may play a role in tissue regeneration and nestin expression has been detected in coronary atherosclerotic plaques. To date, no population-based studies concerning the role of the nestin gene in coronary heart disease (CHD) have been reported.
Methods and results: The 3 SNPs in the nestin gene were genotyped in 1,494 individuals from 580 Irish families. rs11582300 and rs3748570 were associated with early-onset CHD (p=0.04 and p=0.02).
Conclusion: Nestin gene variants are associated with early-onset CHD. Further research on nestin's role in atherosclerosis is required.