Association of TERT polymorphisms and risk of coronary heart disease in a Chinese Han population

Genome-wide association studies have identified that TERT gene was associated with telomere length and age-related diseases. However, little study directly focused on the association between TERT gene polymorphisms and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). We conducted a case-control study to examine the effect of TERT polymorphisms on CHD risk among 596 CHD patients and 603 healthy controls from China. Five significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in TERT were selected and genotyped using Sequenom Mass-ARRAY technology. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using unconditional logistic regression adjusting for age and gender. Allelic model analysis revealed that for TERT rs10069690, allele frequency distributions differed between cases and controls (OR= 1.267, 95%CI = 1.018-1.576; p = 0.034). Genotypic model analysis revealed that genotype frequency distributions of rs10069690 differed between cases and controls after adjusted by age and sex (TC vs. CC: adjusted OR = 1.352, 95% CI = 1.007-1.815; p = 0.045). Genetic model analysis revealed that rs10069690 was associated with an increased risk of CHD under co-dominant, dominant, over-dominant and log-additive models. After adjustments, it remained significant under over-dominant model (adjusted OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.01-1.81; p = 0.044). Our results shed new light on the association between telomere-related gene TERT polymorphisms and CHD susceptibility in a Chinese Han population.