The association between six genetic variants and blood lipid levels in pregnant Chinese Han women.

BACKGROUND: Hyperlipidemia has unique adverse effects on pregnant women and their offspring. The underlying genetic factors related to lipid levels in pregnant populations need more studies.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between 6 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and plasma lipid levels during pregnancy.

METHODS: A total of 2060 pregnant women were recruited. Fasting plasma lipids were measured in the third trimester of pregnancy. Six SNPs (rs1260326 in GCKR, rs1800775 in CETP, rs515135 in APOB, rs1800588 in LIPC, rs964184 in ZPR1, and and rs4420638 in APOC1 of each participant were genotyped using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. The relationships between the 6 loci and plasma lipids were analyzed using a multiple linear regression method.

RESULTS: Two variants, rs1260326 (β = 0.220, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.148-0.291; P = 2.048 × 10-9 ) and rs964184 (β = 0.172, 95% CI = 0.085-0.258; P = 1.083 × 10-4 ) were significantly associated with triglyceride levels. Another 2 variants, rs1800775 (β = -0.033, 95% CI = -0.065 to -0.002; P = .040) and rs1800588 (β = 0.079, 95% CI = 0.046-0.112; P = 3.137 × 10-6 ), were associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. In addition, rs1800775 (β = -0.086, 95% CI = -0.156 to -0.012; P = .024) was associated with total cholesterol. No selected SNPs were associated with plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in this study.

CONCLUSIONS: Loci found by genome-wide association studies to be associated with plasma lipid levels in the general population were also related to lipid levels in the third trimester of pregnancy. This finding implies that changes to lipid profiles during gestation may be associated with SNPs of lipid-related genes. Variants of lipid-related genes are important predictors for estimating lipid concentrations during the pregnancy.