Associations of MTHFR and MTRR polymorphisms with serum lipid levels in chinese hypertensive patients

Abstract

Objective: To examine the effects of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and methionine synthase reductase (MTRR) gene polymorphisms and their interactions with environmental factors on serum lipid levels. Methods: We investigated totally 340 patients with essential hypertension, from Dongzhi community, Anhui, China. High-throughput TaqMan allelic discrimination assay was used for the genotyping of MTHFR C677T (Ala222Val), MTHFR A1298C (Glu429Ala), MTRR A66G (Ile22Met), and MTRR His595Tyr. Results: Compared with the MTRR 66AA genotype carriers, the GG genotype carriers had lower serum total cholesterol (TC) levels (adjusted β ± standard error [SE]: -0.5 ± 0.2 mmol/L; P =.003) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels (adjusted β ± SE: -0.4 ± 0.2 mmol/L; P =.005). Their false discovery rate (FDR)-adjusted P values were 0.056 and 0.056, respectively. We further found that there was a statistically significant interaction between 677TT genotype and sex in their associations with LDL levels (P interaction =.020), and significant interaction between 677TT genotype and smoking on LDL levels (P interaction =.036). A similar pattern of interaction was found between 66GG and drinking on levels of TC (P interaction =.034) and LDL (P interaction =.020). However, there were no significant interactions observed after FDR adjustment. Conclusion: Both MTHFR and MTRR gene polymorphisms could be important genetic determinants of serum lipid levels in Chinese patients with hypertension. These findings need to be replicated in a larger sample. © The Author(s) 2013.