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

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.