Associations of the hypertension-related single nucleotide polymorphism rs11191548 with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and leptin in Chinese children

BACKGROUND: The genome-wide association study has founded hypertension-related single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs11191548 near CYP17A1 encoding a key enzyme involved in steroid metabolism, but the molecular mechanisms are not understood and the associations of the SNP with hypertension-related traits are not fully described, especially in children. The aim of the present study is to investigate the associations between the SNP and two hypertension-related traits, lipids and leptin. METHODS: We genotyped the SNP in Beijing Child and Adolescent Metabolic Syndrome (BCAMS) study. A total of 3503 children participated in the study. RESULTS: The SNP rs11191548 was significantly associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) (P = 0.014 and 0.028, respectively) and leptin (P = 0.011 and 0.026, respectively) under an additive model after adjustment for age, gender, and systolic blood pressure (SBP) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP). There was a statistically significant association of rs11191548 with high leptin after adjustment for age, gender, and SBP or DBP. The P-values remain significant after correction for multiple testing. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate for the first time that the SNP rs11191548 near CYP17A1 is associated with HDL and leptin in Chinese children. These novel findings provide important evidence that HDL and leptin maybe possibly mediate the process of CYP17A1 involved in hypertension. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12881-018-0523-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.