The association between IL‐17A and IL‐23R polymorphisms and coronary artery disease risk in a Middle Eastern Chinese population

BACKGROUND: Polymorphisms in IL‐17A and IL‐23R may affect the expression of these genes and could contribute to a patient's susceptibility to coronary artery disease (CAD). Although this association was investigated by previous studies, the relationship remains unclear. METHOD: We conducted this hospital‐based case‐control study to determine whether polymorphisms in these two genes could be associated with a risk of CAD. A total of 191 patients and 131 controls, as determined by SXscore, were enrolled in this study. The genotyping was performed with the Sequenom MassARRAY platform. RESULTS: The results showed that that the FPG and HbA1C levels were higher in patients with CAD than in the controls. In addition, the HDL and ApoA1 levels were significantly higher in the controls than in the cases. In contrast, the Lp(a) level was significantly lower in the controls than in the patients. The IL‐17A rs2275913 and IL‐23R rs6682925 polymorphisms were associated with an increased risk of CAD (rs2275913: AA vs GG: crude OR = 2.16, 95% CI = 1.08‐4.30; AG/AA vs GG: crude OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.04‐3.15; rs6682925 CC vs TT: crude OR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.00‐3.63). The subgroup analysis by SXscore revealed that the IL‐23R rs6682925 polymorphism (CT/CC vs TT: crude OR = 3.72, 95% CI = 1.19‐11.66) was associated with an increased risk of CAD in patients with a high SXscore. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that T2DM, Lp(a), HDL‐c, and ApoA1 were risk factors of CAD and that the IL‐17A rs2275913 and IL‐23R rs6682925 polymorphisms may contribute to susceptibility to CAD.