Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The serum concentrations of lipoproteins and lipids are heritable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Pregnancy is associated with increases in plasma lipid profiles. Identifying the genetic determinants could provide novel insights into mechanisms of dyslipidemia and reveal avenues for developing new therapies. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on serum lipid levels during pregnancy.

Method: In this study, 2085 unrelated pregnant women were recruited. Fasting serum lipids were measured in the third trimester of pregnancy. Six SNPs (rs1260326 in GCKR, rs1800775 in CETP, rs515135 in APOB, rs1800588 in LIPC, rs964184 in APOA1-C3-A4-A5 and rs4420638 in APOE-C1-C4-C2) were genotyped using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. The individual and cumulative effects of the six loci on serum lipids were analyzed.

Results: We found that two variations, rs1260326 (b=0.180, 95% CI=0.184 to 0.300, P=3.91×10⁻¹⁶) and rs964184 (b=0.114, 95% CI 0.117 to 0.260, P=2.69×10⁻⁷) were significantly associated with triglycerides (TG) level. Another two variations rs1800775 (b=−0.069, 95% CI −0.071 to −0.016, P=0.002) and rs1800588 (b=−0.129, 95% CI −0.112 to −0.055, P=8.14×10⁻⁹) showed relation with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Besides, these loci exerted the combined effect on lipids. Subjects with increasing number of risk alleles showed higher TG concentration (b=0.210 mmol/l per allele, 95% CI 0.170 to 0.258, P=2.51×10⁻²¹) and lower value of HDL-C (b=−0.140 mmol/l per allele, 95% CI −0.082 to −0.043, P=5.36×10⁻¹⁰) in a dose-dependent manner. Other loci did not show the association with related serum lipid level in our population.

Conclusion: Previously identified lipid loci are associated with lipid levels in the Chinese pregnant population. An early lifestyle intervention incorporating exercise training and diet should be encouraged in the pregnant women who harboring risk alleles to keep their lipids in the normal range. Nevertheless more comprehensive investigation is still required to verify the significance of these loci in other population.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however funding details unavailable.