Effects of genetic variants on lipid parameters and dyslipidemia in a Chinese population

A number of recent genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified several novel genetic determinants of plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations in European populations. However, it is still unclear whether these loci identified in Caucasian GWA studies also exert the same effect on lipid and lipoprotein concentrations in a Chinese population. We genotyped 10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in nine loci in a Chinese Han population sample (n = 4,192) and assessed the associations of these SNPs with metabolic traits, using linear regression adjusted for age, gender, diabetes status, and body mass index. Three variants (rs12654264, P ∼ 1.7 × 10(-6); rs3764261, P ∼ 7.1 × 10(-7); and rs4420638, P ∼ 1.1 × 10(-3)) showed strong evidence for association with total cholesterol; four variants (rs780094, P ∼ 1.8 × 10(-11); rs17145738, P ∼ 5.0 × 10(-7); rs326, P ∼ 2.3 × 10(-6); and rs439401, P ∼ 2.2 × 10(-5)) showed strong evidence for association with triglycerides, four variants (rs17145738, P ∼ 1.9 × 10(-4); rs326, P ∼ 9.7 × 10(-4); rs1800588, P ∼ 1.5 × 10(-7); and rs3764261, P ∼ 4.3 × 10(-14)) showed strong evidence for association with HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), two variants (rs12654264, P ∼ 2.3 × 10(-5); and rs4420638, P ∼ 3.6 × 10(-4)) showed strong evidence for association with LDL-C, and four variants (rs326, P ∼ 2.8 × 10(-3); rs1800588, P ∼ 6.1 × 10(-4); rs3764261, P ∼ 2.0 × 10(-3); and rs4420638, P ∼ 9.4 × 10(-5)) showed strong evidence for association with total cholesterol-HDL-C-related ratio. These SNPs generated strong combined effects on lipid traits and dyslipidemia. Our findings indicate that the variants that associated with metabolic traits in Europeans may also play a role in a Chinese Han population.