The association of common genetic variants in the APOA5, LPL and GCK genes with longitudinal changes in metabolic and cardiovascular traits

Abstract

Aims/hypothesis Common genetic variants influence plasma triacylglycerol, HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) and glucose levels in cross-sectional studies. However, the longitudinal effects of these established variants have not been studied. Our aim was to examine the longitudinal associations of four such variants in the apolipoprotein A-V (APOA5), lipoprotein lipase (LPL), and glucokinase (GCK) genes with fasting glucose or lipid levels. Methods The individuals analysed were participants in the Busselton Health Survey (n∈ =∈4,554). Cross-sectional analyses of family data used the total association test. Longitudinal association analyses of unrelated participant data (n∈ =∈2,864) used linear mixed-effects models. Results The findings of cross-sectional association analyses replicated those of previous studies. We observed associations of the G and C alleles at the APOA5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs662799 and rs3135506 with raised triacylglycerol levels (p∈ =∈0.0003 and p∈