NPAS4 Polymorphisms Contribute to Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Risk

Background: As genetic inheritance is an inevitable risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease (CHD), it is critical to identify the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) locus of CHD risk. This case-control study exported whether the NPAS4 polymorphisms are related to the CHD risk in the Chinese Han population. Methods: The Agena MassARRAY platform was used to genotype the five SNPs in NPAS4 from 499 CHD patients and 500 healthy controls. We used χ 2 test to compare the distributions of gender, allele and genotypes frequencies between cases and controls. The logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results: The rs4466842 in NPAS4 was found to be correlated with an increased risk of CHD in overall, males and age ≤ 60. The rs117186164 and rs12785321 in NPAS4 were significantly related to an increased risk of CHD in the male and the age ≤ 60, respectively. Moreover, the haplotype AC (rs117186164 and rs4466842) in NPAS4 was significantly correlated with an increased risk of CHD. Conclusions: Our results indicated that polymorphisms (rs117186164, rs12785321, and rs4466842) in NPAS4 were significantly correlated with increased the risk of CHD in the Chinese Han population. Further association and functional studies are required to confirm the results and investigate the role of this SNP in the development of CHD.