NPR-C gene polymorphism is associated with increased susceptibility to coronary artery disease in Chinese Han population: a multicenter study

To find a new locus that confers significant susceptibility to CAD in Chinese Han population, a genome-wide association study in 200 “extreme individuals” from a Shandong cohort and a pathway-based candidate gene study from a Shanghai cohort (293 CAD/293 controls) were simultaneously performed. Amongst them, 13 SNPs associated with CAD were selected to conduct validation and replication studies in additional 3363 CAD patients and 3148 controls. A novel locus rs700926 in natriuretic peptide receptor C (NPR-C) was identified in Shandong and Hubei cohorts. Then rs700926 and other nine tag SNPs were genotyped in four geographically different populations (Shandong, Shaanxi, Hubei and Sichuan cohorts), and 6 SNPs (rs700926, rs1833529, rs2270915, rs17541471, rs3792758 and rs696831) showed stronger association with CAD, regardless of single or combined analysis. We further genotyped rs2270915 and 10 additional tag SNPs in a central China cohort and identified rs12697273 and rs10066436 as the loci associated with CAD. All these positive associations remained significant after adjustment for traditional risk factors of CAD. NPR-C gene SNPs significantly contribute to CAD susceptibility in the Chinese Han population.