Clinical and pharmacogenetic impact of endothelial nitric oxide synthase polymorphisms on cardiovascular diseases

Nitric oxide (NO) is a vasoactive substance synthesized from l-arginine by neuronal (NOS1), endothelial (NOS3), and inducible (NOS2) nitric oxide synthases. NOS3 is the most important NO synthase isoform in the vascular endothelium and therefore it exerts critical roles in the cardiovascular system. NOS3 is encoded by NOS3 gene, which displays a large number of genetic polymorphisms such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), variable number...