Family With Sequence Similarity 5, Member C (FAM5C)

FAM5C contributes to aggressive periodontitis. Polymorphisms were identified within the FAM5C that show genetic linkage to and are associated with myocardial infarction (MI) in GENECARD. The association was confirmed in an independent CAD case-control sample and strong association with MI was identified with single nucleotide polymorphisms in the 3' end of FAM5C. FAM5C genotypes were also correlated with expression of the gene in human aorta. Expression levels of FAM5C decreased with increasing passage of proliferating aortic smooth muscle cells (SMC) suggesting a role for this molecule in smooth muscle cell proliferation and senescence.These data implicate FAM5C alleles in the risk of myocardial infarction and suggest further functional studies of FAM5C are required to identify the gene's contribution to atherosclerosis.