Association of Four Genetic Loci with Uric Acid Levels and Reduced Renal Function: The J-SHIPP Suita Study

Background: Recent genome-wide association studies have identified several genetic variants as susceptibility loci for serum uric acid (UA) levels. We also identified a common nonsense mutation, W258X, responsible for renal hypouricemia. Here, we investigated clinical implications of these genetic variants by cross-sectional and longitudinal genetic epidemiological analysis. Methods: The study enrolled 5,165 Japanese subjects aged 64 +/- 12 years from the general population. Clinical parameters were obtained from the personal health records, evaluated at medical checkups. Results: Serum UA levels were significantly different between the SLC22A12 rs11231825 (CC/CT/TT: 4.5 +/- 1.6, 5.0 +/- 1.4, 5.3 +/- 1.4 mg/dl; p = 7.6 x 10(-20)), SLC2A9 rs1014290 (TT/TG/GG: 4.9 +/- 1.4, 5.1 +/- 1.4, 5.3 +/- 1.4 mg/dl; p = 3.1 x 10(-11)) and ABCG2 rs2231142 (TT/TG/GG: 5.3 +/- 1.5, 5.2 +/- 1.4, 5.1 +/- 1.4 mg/dl; p = 2.0 x 10(-5)) genotypes. During 9.4 years of follow-up, new cases of hyperuricemia were diagnosed. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified the accumulation of risk alleles as a significant determinant of future development of hyperuricemia (OR = 7.94; 95% CI: 1.97-53.6). In contrast, subjects with nonsense mutation predominantly showed lower UA levels (XX/XW/WW: 1.3 +/- 1.7, 3.6 +/- 1.0, 5.2 +/- 1.4 mg/dl; p = 9.3 x 10(-82)). However, these subjects showed significantly reduced renal function(beta = -0.111; p<0.001) independently of possible covariates. Conclusion: Accumulation of risk genotypes was an independent risk factor for future development of hyperuricemia. Genetically developed hypouricemia was an independent risk factor for decreased renal function. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel