Adiponectin gene polymorphisms, plasma adiponectin concentration and persistent hypertension in Hong Kong Chinese

Abstract

Low plasma adiponectin concentrations can predict the development of hypertension after 5 years in our population. We therefore investigated if single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the adiponectin gene influenced plasma adiponectin concentrations and whether they were associated with hypertension. We genotyped 14 tagging SNPs in 1936 subjects, from the Hong Kong Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence Study-2 (CRISPS-2). Plasma adiponectin concentrations were measured in 1650 subjects. Among the 14 SNPs, rs266729 (b = -0.071, P = 0.0008), -10677C > T (b = 0.067, P = 0.0017), rs182052 (b = -0.095, P < 0.0001) and rs12495941 (b = 0.100, P < 0.0001) were significantly associated with adiponectin concentrations after adjusting for covariates. Among all the 1936 subjects, none of the SNPs was significantly associated with prevalent and incident hypertension. However, in the sub-cohort of 1616 subjects who were consistently normotensive or hypertensive at baseline and follow-up, the minor G allele of the SNP rs266729 was significantly associated with a higher odds of hypertension (odds ratio [95%CI] = 1.49 [1.13, 1.95], P = 0.0044) after adjusting for covariates. In stepwise multiple logistic regression, this SNP (P = 0.020) was a significant independent factor of hypertension, together with age (P < 0.001), body mass index (P < 0.001), triglycerides (P =0.020) and HOMA-IR (P < 0.001). No significant sex-interaction was found for the SNPs with adiponectin concentration and hypertension. Similar results were obtained in haplotype analysis. In our population, genetic variants in the adiponectin gene influenced plasma adiponectin concentrations. As SNP 266729 was associated with persistent hypertension in this population, further studies on the genetic association of adiponectin with hypertension are warranted.