Effect of APC variant in coronary artery disease and response to atorvastatin therapy

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have recently been used to demonstrate that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene is a susceptible biomarker for coronary artery disease (CAD). In light of this finding, we aimed to explore the association between rs449650 and the risk of CAD in Han Chinese. A total of 666 CAD patients and 434 controls were involved in the current association study. The results showed that the APC rs449650 was significantly associated with CAD in males (chi(2) = 8.14, df = 1, P = 0.004, OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.12-1.86). Moreover, the association was stronger under the recessive model in males (chi(2) = 12.71, df = 1, P = 0.0004, OR = 3.07, 95% CI = 1.61-5.82). A further analysis by age showed that there was a 79% increased risk of CAD for males younger than 65 years (genotype: chi(2) = 11.53, df = 2, P = 0.003; allele: chi(2) = 9.94, df = 1, P = 0.002, OR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.24-2.57). The group of rs449650-AAcarriers was more responsive to atorvastatin therapy than other groups based on a decrease in triglyceride (TG) levels (CC: P > 0.05; AC: P > 0.05; AA: P < 0.001). Additionally, there were no significant differences in the concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P > 0.05) and apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) (P > 0.05) before and after four weeks of atorvastatin therapy in rs449650-AAcarriers. Our case-control study shows that the APC polymorphism rs449650 is significantly associated with CAD risk in young Han Chinese males. In addition, the genotype rs449650-AA could affect the response to atorvastatin therapy by affecting the plasma concentrations of TG, HDL-C and ApoA-I.