The association of APOC4 polymorphisms with premature coronary artery disease in a Chinese Han population

Background: Hypercholesterolemia arising from abnormal lipid metabolism is one of the critical risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD), however the roles of genetic variants in lipid metabolism-related genes on premature CAD (<= 60 years old) development still require further investigation. We herein genotyped four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in lipid metabolism-related genes (rs1132899 and rs5167 in APOC4, rs1801693 and rs7765781 in LPA), aimed to shed light on the influence of these SNPs on individual susceptibility to early-onset CAD. Methods: Genotyping of the four SNPs (rs1132899, rs5167, rs1801693 and rs7765781) was performed in 224 premature CAD cases and 297 control subjects (<= 60 years old) using polymerase chain reaction-ligation detection reaction (PCR-LDR) method. The association of these SNPs with premature CAD was performed with SPSS software. Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that C allele (OR = 1.50, P = 0.027) and CC genotype (OR = 2.84, P = 0.022) of APOC4 rs1132899 were associated with increased premature CAD risk, while the other three SNPs had no significant effect. Further stratified analysis uncovered a more evident association with the risk of premature CAD among male subjects (C allele, OR = 1.65, and CC genotype, OR = 3.33). Conclusions: Our data provides the first evidence that APOC4 rs1132899 polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of premature CAD in Chinese subjects, and the association was more significant among male subjects.