The rs10757278 Polymorphism of the 9p21.3 Locus Is Associated with Premature Coronary Artery Disease in Polish Patients

Recently, genome-wide association studies have revealed a locus associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction, namely, 9p21.3. Its participation in the conditioning of the disease has been proven in many populations of European descent, but not yet in Slavs. Allelic variants of the rs10757278 polymorphism functionally affect the activity of the 9p21.3 locus; therefore, we conducted a study to determine whether the rs10757278 is associated with premature CAD in Polish patients. We studied 320 subjects aged 25-55 years, divided into two groups matched by sex and age: (1) patients with angiographically proven premature CAD (n = 160), and (2) blood donors as a control group (n = 160). The rs10757278 was genotyped using the method of fluorescently labeled allele-specific oligonucleotides. The frequency of the G allele was significantly higher in patients than in controls (58.2% vs. 42.8%, respectively, p = 0.011) and was similar to the frequency of the GG homozygotes (30.6% vs. 17.5%, respectively, p = 0.006). Both the GG homozygosity (odds ratio [OR] = 2.08, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19-3.66) as well as the G allele (OR = 1.49, 95% CI: 1.08-2.07) have been associated with CAD in the analyzed population. These variants may be considered as risk factors, also in the Polish population.