Is endothelin gene polymorphism associated with postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting?

Abstract

Background:The mechanism of development of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has not been clearly defined, and the involvement of multiple factors such as advanced age, withdrawal of β-blockers, inadequate atrial protection, and electrolyte imbalance, particularly hypomagnesemia has been documented by several authors. Despite all the available pharmacologic prophylaxis, incidence of AF still remains high in this group of patients. This unexplained cause could be genetic inheritance of endothelin-1 (ET-1) gene which is thought to have a pro-arrhythmogenic effect.Aim:This study aims to investigate the relationship between plasma ET-1 concentrations, ET-1 gene polymorphisms in loci -1370 T/G, -134 (3A/4A) Ins/del, Lys198Asn (G/T), and occurrence of AF in patients undergoing CABG.Methodology:Ninety-eight nonrelated, nondiabetic patients over a period of 4 years undergoing routine CABG were selected for the present study. All patients were genotyped for three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in loci -1370 T/G, -134 (3A/4A) Ins/del, and Lys198Asn (G/T) in the ET-1 gene by gene sequencing. The plasma ET-1 concentrations were measured using an ET immunoassay.Results:Plasma ET-1 concentrations were higher in AF+ group (P = 0.001) as compared to AF− group. The allele frequencies between AF+ and AF− group were significantly different only with respect to the Lys198Asn (G/T) SNP of the ET-1 gene.Conclusion:The study described the possible correlation of polymorphism of ET gene in CABG population from India. The ET-1 gene might play a disease-modifying role in atrial fibrillation.

View point: Retraction is a pain but scientific misconduct is a crime!

“…“Is endothelin gene polymorphism associated with postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting?” authored by Ira Dhawan, Minati Choudhury, Milind P Hote, Anushree Gupta, Poonam Malhotra, Kalaivani V Mani DOI: 10.4103/aca.ACA_264_16; published in volume 20 of 2017 at page numbers 341-347. [ 3 ] One of the coauthors, surprisingly, sent me an email mentioning her extreme astonishment when she found her name as one of the authors of this original article, whereas, she herself has no knowledge of contributing in any way to that article or any research that resulted in that paper. She also raised issues about the ethical clearance from Institute Ethics Committee and also about the financial support for such kind of study.…”

Retraction: Is Endothelin Gene Polymorphism Associated with Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting?

“…It has been brought to the attention of the Editor-in-Chief by one of the supposed coauthors of the original article, “Is Endothelin Gene Polymorphism Associated with Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting?” published in Annals of Cardiac Anesthesia (ACA) on pages 341-7, Issue 3, Volume 20, 2017[ 1 ] about the false inclusion of an author, the conflicting issue of taking Institute's ethical clearance for conducting the study, and issues related to funding of this study. The first author and the corresponding author of the mentioned publication have failed to provide any conclusive answers to the editorial office of ACA for the above mentioned points.…”