Allelic and genotypic frequencies of platelet glycoprotein polymorphisms in a Portuguese population.

Introduction And Objectives: We studied genotypic and allelic frequencies of polymorphisms that can affect platelet function, namely the Kozak, VNTR and HPA-2 polymorphisms of glycoprotein Ibα, the Pl(A) polymorphism of glycoprotein IIIa and the C807T polymorphism of glycoprotein Ia, in a Portuguese population composed of 227 donors.

Methods: PCR-RFLP was used to assess the Kozak, HPA-2, Pl(A) and C807T polymorphisms. The VNTR polymorphism was discriminated by different weight bands on electrophoresis.

Results: All genotypic frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and do not differ from other Caucasian populations. Genotypic frequencies were 68.3%, 26.9% and 4.8% for Pl(A1/A1), Pl(A1/A2) and Pl(A2/A2) genotypes of the Pl(A) polymorphism, 79.3%, 20.3% and 0.4% for TT, TC and CC genotypes of the Kozak polymorphism, 81.1%, 18.9% and 0.0% for aa, ab and bb genotypes of the HPA-2 polymorphism, 15.4%, 0.9%, 70.5%, 11.5%, 1.3% and 0.4% for BC, BD, CC, CD, DD and CE genotypes of the VNTR polymorphism, and 39.7%, 50.2% and 10.1% for CC, CT and TT genotypes of the C807T polymorphism.

Conclusions: The Portuguese population has now been characterized in terms of major platelet glycoprotein polymorphisms, which will be an important tool for further studies to assess the role of platelet glycoproteins in individual predisposition to prothrombotic conditions and response to antithrombotic therapy.