A lack of association between adiponectin polymorphisms and coronary artery disease in a Chinese population

We investigated the association between two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the adiponectin gene (rs822395 and rs266729) and coronary artery disease (CAD) in a case-control study of 198 unrelated Chinese CAD patients (with ≥ 70% coronary stenosis or previous myocardial infarction) and 237 non-CAD controls. The ligase reaction was used to detect SNPs rs822395 and rs266729, and the allelic association of these SNPs with the occurrence and severity of CAD was assessed. There were no significant differences in the genotypic or allelic frequencies of the two SNPs between control and CAD individuals. In addition, there was no association between the two SNPs and the severity of CAD based on the number of diseased vessels. The frequencies of alleles C and G at rs266729 differed significantly between females in the CAD and control groups, but not between males. Female carriers of allele G at rs266729 had a higher risk of CAD compared with allele C carriers (OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.09-2.64, p = 0.02). These results indicate a gender-specific effect of the adiponectin gene rs266729 variant in modulating the risk of CAD in women.