@article {1126, title = {Association of genetic variation in serum amyloid-A with cardiovascular disease and interactions with IL6, IL1RN, IL1beta and TNF genes in the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Atheroscler Thromb}, volume = {16}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Aug}, pages = {419-30}, abstract = {

AIM: Since inflammation is an important contributor to atherosclerosis, gene variants mediating inflammation are of interest. We investigated gene variants in acute phase serum amyloid-A (SAA), a sensitive indicator of inflammatory activity, and their associations with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and HDL cholesterol. Interaction of the SAA genes with genetic variants of their regulators, IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-alpha in influencing CVD was also explored.

METHODS: SNPs characterizing common variation in the SAA1 and SAA2 genes were genotyped in European-(EA) and African-American (AA) participants (n=3969 and n=719) of the Cardiovascular Health Study. Using linear and Cox proportional hazards regression, we assessed associations of SNPs with baseline carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) and risk of incident myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, total CVD events or mortality during 14 years of follow-up.

RESULTS: No associations between SAA SNPs and outcomes were observed in EA, with the exception of total CVD events; each rs4638289 minor allele was associated with an increased risk in obese individuals, HR=1.2 (95\%CI: 0.981.4; p=0.086) and decreased risk among non-obese, HR=0.9 (95\%CI: 0.80.99; p=0.026). In AA, we observed modest associations between SAA SNPs and cIMT, potentially modified by HDL. SAA SNPs were also associated with lower HDL in EA and AA. Suggestive gene-gene interaction findings for cIMT in AA and CVD mortality in EA were not significant in subsequent model selection tests.

CONCLUSION: Associations of SAA SNPs with cIMT, HDL and total CVD events were identified, unadjusted for multiple testing. These findings should be regarded as hypothesis-generating until confirmed by other studies.

}, keywords = {Aged, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cholesterol, HDL, Cytokines, Female, Gene Regulatory Networks, Humans, Inflammation Mediators, Interleukin 1 Receptor Antagonist Protein, Interleukin-1beta, Interleukin-6, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proportional Hazards Models, Serum Amyloid A Protein, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Tunica Intima}, issn = {1880-3873}, author = {Carty, Cara L and Heagerty, Patrick and Heckbert, Susan R and Enquobahrie, Daniel A and Jarvik, Gail P and Davis, Scott and Tracy, Russell P and Reiner, Alexander P} }