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Rebecca Voelker

JAMA. 1999;282:2111.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Researchers in Japan have uncovered the genetic underpinning of coronary artery spasm, a condition responsible for chest pain and, in severe cases, myocardial infarction.

In a study of 201 patients with coronary artery spasm and 345 healthy controls, researchers from Kumamoto University discovered that a mutation in the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene was the most predictive risk factor, followed by cigarette smoking, for coronary artery spasm. The eNOS gene controls nitric oxide production in the epithelium of blood vessel walls. Nitric oxide is a key chemical in regulating blood vessel dilation.

The researchers reported that patients with the eNOS gene mutation were twice as likely as those without it to have coronary artery spasm, which reduces blood flow to the heart. Cigarette smokers were twice as likely as nonsmokers to have spasm. Because the effects of the gene mutation and smoking appear to be . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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