Relationship between Lipid Phenotypes, Overweight, Lipid Lowering Drug Response and KIF6 and HMG-CoA Genotypes in a Subset of the Brisighella Heart Study Population

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2017-12, Vol.19 (1), p.49
• Main Authors: Angelini, Sabrina, Rosticci, Martina, Massimo, Gianmichele, Musti, Muriel, Ravegnini, Gloria, Consolini, Nicola, Sammarini, Giulia, D'Addato, Sergio, Rizzoli, Elisabetta, Botbayev, Dauren, Borghi, Claudio, Cantelli-Forti, Giorgio, Cicero, Arrigo F, Hrelia, Patrizia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acyl Coenzyme A - genetics; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Body Mass Index; Body size; Body weight; Brisighella heart study; Cardiovascular disease; Cholesterol; Coronary artery; Coronary artery disease; Demography; Dyslipidemia; Female; Genetic Loci; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genotype; Heart diseases; High density lipoprotein; HMG-CoA; Humans; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Hypercholesterolemia; KIF6; Kinesin - genetics; Lipids; Lipids - blood; Loci; Low density lipoprotein; Male; Middle Aged; Obesity; Obesity - genetics; Overweight - genetics; Phenotype; Phenotypes; polymorphisms; Population genetics; Population studies; Sex differences; Statins; Triglycerides; waist circumference; Waist Circumference - genetics; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms19010049

The existence of genetic traits might explain the susceptibility to develop hypercholesterolemia and the inter-individual differences in statin response. This study was performed to evaluate whether individuals' polymorphisms in and genes are independently associated with hypercholesterolemia, other lipid-associated traits, and statin response in unselected individuals enrolled in the Brisighella heart study (Survey 2012). A total of 1622 individuals, of which 183 under statin medication, were genotyped for a total of five polymorphisms (KIF6 rs20455, rs9471077, rs9462535; HMG-CoA rs3761740, rs3846662). The relationships between the five loci and clinical characteristics were analyzed. The principal basic parameters calculated on 12 h fasting blood included total cholesterol (TC), High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C), Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG). Hypercholesterolemia was defined as a TC >200 mg/dL or use of lipid-lowering medication. 965 individuals were characterized by hypercholesterolemia; these subjects were significantly older ( < 0.001), with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference significantly higher ( < 0.001) compared to the others. rs3846662 GG genotype was significantly over-represented in the hypercholesterolemic group ( = 0.030). rs3846662 genotype was associated with the level of TC and LDL-C. Furthermore, in the same subset of untreated subjects, we observed a significant correlation between the rs20455 and HDL-C. variants were associated with a significantly lower (rs20455) or higher (rs9471077 and rs9462535) risk of obesity, in males only. No association between responsiveness to statins and the polymorphisms under investigation were observed. Our results showed associations between rs3846662 and rs20455 and lipid phenotypes, which may have an influence on dyslipidemia-related events. Moreover, this represents the first study implicating variants with obesity in men, and point to the possible involvement of this genetic locus in the known gender-related differences in coronary artery disease.