Association between ADAMTS7 polymorphism and carotid artery plaque vulnerability

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) indicated that polymorphisms in ADAMTS7 were associated with artery disease caused by atherosclerosis. However, the correlation between the ADAMTS7 polymorphism and plaque stability remains unclear. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between 2 ADAMTS7 variants rs3825807 and rs7173743 and ischemic stroke or atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability. This research is an observational study. Patients with ischemic stroke and normal control individuals admitted to Beijing Tiantan Hospital from May 2014 to October 2017 were enrolled. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging was used to distinguish vulnerable and stable carotid plaques. The ADAMTS7 SNPs were genotyped using TaqMan assays on real-time PCR system. The multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to adjust for multiple risk factors between groups. Three hundred twenty-six patients with ischemic stroke (189 patients with vulnerable plaque and 81 patients with stable plaque) and 432 normal controls were included. ADAMTS7 polymorphisms of both rs7173743 and rs3825807 were associated with carotid plaque vulnerability but not the prevalence of ischemic stroke. The T/T genotype of rs7173743 [odds ratio (OR) = 1.885, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.067–3.328, P = .028] and A/A genotype of rs3825807 (OR = 2.146, 95% CI = 1.163–3.961, P = .013) were considered as risk genotypes for vulnerable plaque susceptibility. In conclusion, ADAMTS7 variants rs3825807 and rs7173743 are associated with the risk for carotid plaque vulnerability.