Common variants in the SLC28A2 gene are associated with serum uric acid level and hyperuricemia and gout in Han Chinese

Background: Serum uric acid (SUA), hyperuricemia (HUA) and gout are complex traits with relatively high heritability. This study aims to identify whether a candidate gene, SLC28A2, exerts susceptibility for SUA fluctuation and incidence of HUA and gout in the Han Chinese population. Results: Three sample sets of 1376 gout patients, 1290 long-term HUA subjects (no gout attack) and 1349 normouricemic controls were recruited for this study. Eight polymorphisms in the SLC28A2 gene were genotyped using the ligase detection reaction-polymerase chain reaction (LDR-PCR) technology. Rs16941238 showed the most significant associations with SUA level (minor allele "A", BETA = - 13.84 mu mol/L, P = 0.0041, P-perm = 0.0042) and HUA (OR = 0.7734, P = 0.0033, P-perm = 0.0020), but not with gout (OR = 0.8801, P = 0.1315, P-perm = 0.1491). Rs2271437 was significantly associated with gout (minor allele "G", OR = 1.387, P = 0.0277, P-perm = 0.0288), and was further confirmed in the meta-analysis with the previously published gout GWAS dataset (OR = 1.3221, P = 0.0089). Each variant basically conferred consistent OR direction on gout and HUA, compared with the normouricemic control. Conclusions: Our findings support the associations of the SLC28A2 gene with the SUA level, the HUA phenotype and gout in Han Chinese.