Interactions among Candidate Genes Selected by Meta-Analyses Resulting in Higher Risk of Ischemic Stroke in a Chinese Population

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 28;10(12):e0145399. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145399. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Ischemic stroke (IS) is a multifactorial disorder caused by both genetic and environmental factors. The combined effects of multiple susceptibility genes might result in a higher risk for IS than a single gene. Therefore, we investigated whether interactions among multiple susceptibility genes were associated with an increased risk of IS by evaluating gene polymorphisms identified in previous meta-analyses, including methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T, beta fibrinogen (FGB, β-FG) A455G and T148C, apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε2-4, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D), and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) G894T. In order to examine these interactions, 712 patients with IS and 774 controls in a Chinese Han population were genotyped using the SNaPshot method, and multifactor dimensionality reduction analysis was used to detect potential interactions among the candidate genes. The results of this study found that ACE I/D and β-FG T148C were significant synergistic contributors to IS. In particular, the ACE DD + β-FG 148CC, ACE DD + β-FG 148CT, and ACE ID + β-FG 148CC genotype combinations resulted in higher risk of IS. After adjusting for potential confounding IS risk factors (age, gender, family history of IS, hypertension history and history of diabetes mellitus) using a logistic analysis, a significant correlation between the genotype combinations and IS patients persisted (overall stroke: adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.57, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.22-2.02, P < 0.001, large artery atherosclerosis subtype: adjusted OR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.08-2.07, P = 0.016, small-artery occlusion subtype: adjusted OR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.43-2.91, P < 0.001). The results of this study indicate that the ACE I/D and β-FG T148C combination may result in significantly higher risk of IS in this Chinese population.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Asian People / genetics*
  • Brain Ischemia / complications*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Epistasis, Genetic*
  • Female
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Meta-Analysis as Topic
  • Middle Aged
  • Polymorphism, Genetic
  • Stroke / complications*
  • Stroke / genetics*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (81070912, http://isisn.nsfc.gov.cn/egrantindex/funcindex/prjsearch-list), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2013GXNSFBA019131) and (2015GXNSFAA139171), Self-financing Science Foundation of Guangxi Health Bureau (#Z2012096), and Shandong Province Excellent Young Scientist Research Award Fund (#BS2012YY035). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.