Carotid MRI Study

BACKGROUND: P-selectin (SELP) and its ligand, P-selectin glycoprotein ligand 1 (SELPLG), play key roles in both the inflammatory response and the ath-erosclerotic process. Previous studies have shown ge-netic variation in the SELP gene [selectin P (granule membrane protein 140kDa, antigen CD62)] to be as-sociated with plasma SELP concentrations; however, themajor biological function of SELP (and SELPLG) is at the cell surface. We therefore investigated the asso-ciation of SELP polymorphisms with platelet SELP measures and polymorphisms in the SELPLG gene (se-lectin P ligand) with lymphocyte, granulocyte, an