Association of COMT gene polymorphisms with systemic atherosclerosis in elderly Japanese

Single Nucleotide Variants (SNVs) of the Mesocorticolimbic System Associated with Cardiovascular Diseases and Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review

The mesocorticolimbic (MCL) system is crucial in developing risky health behaviors which lead to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Although there is some knowledge of the MCL system genes linked to CVDs and T2D, a comprehensive list is lacking, underscoring the significance of this review. This systematic review followed PRISMA guidelines and the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched intensively for articles related to the MCL system, single nucleotide variants (SNVs, formerly single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs), CVDs, T2D, and associated risk factors. Included studies had to involve a genotype with at least one MCL system gene (with an identified SNV) for all participants and the analysis of its link to CVDs, T2D, or associated risk factors. The quality assessment of the included studies was performed using the Q-Genie tool. The VEP and DAVID tools were used to annotate and interpret genetic variants and identify enriched pathways and gene ontology terms associated with the gene list. The review identified 77 articles that met the inclusion criteria. These articles provided information on 174 SNVs related to the MCL system that were linked to CVDs, T2D, or associated risk factors. The COMT gene was found to be significantly related to hypertension, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, obesity, and drug abuse, with rs4680 being the most commonly reported variant. This systematic review found a strong association between the MCL system and the risk of developing CVDs and T2D, suggesting that identifying genetic variations related to this system could help with disease prevention and treatment strategies.

The COMT-polymorphism is not associated with the incidence of acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery - a prospective cohort study

Background

The Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) represents the key enzyme in catecholamine degradation. Recent studies suggest that the COMT rs4680 polymorphism is associated with the response to endogenous and exogenous catecholamines. There are, however, conflicting data regarding the COMT Met/Met phenotype being associated with an increased risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery. The aim of the current study is to prospectively investigate the impact of the COMT rs4680 polymorphism on the incidence of AKI in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Methods

In this prospective single center cohort study consecutive patients hospitalized for elective cardiac surgery including cardiopulmonary-bypass (CPB) were screened for participation. Demographic clinical data, blood, urine and tissue samples were collected at predefined time points throughout the clinical stay. AKI was defined according to recent recommendations of the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcome (KDIGO) group. Genetic analysis was performed after patient enrolment was completed.

Results

Between April and December 2014, 150 patients were recruited. The COMT genotypes were distributed as follows: Val/Met 48.7%, Met/Met 29.3%, Val/Val 21.3%. No significant differences were found for demography, comorbidities, or operative strategy according to the underlying COMT genotype. AKI occurred in 35 patients (23.5%) of the total cohort, and no differences were evident between the COMT genotypes (20.5% Met/Met, 24.7% Val/Met, 25.0% Val/Val, p = 0.66). There were also no differences in the post-operative period, including ICU or in-hospital stay.

Conclusions

We did not find statistically significant variations in the risk for postoperative AKI, length of ICU or in-hospital stay according to the underlying COMT genotype.

A genetic variant in the catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) gene is related to age-dependent differences in the therapeutic effect of calcium-channel blockers

Hypertension is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease and one of the major health concerns worldwide. Genetic factors impact both the risk for hypertension and the therapeutic effect of antihypertensive drugs. Sex- and age-specific variances in the prevalence of hypertension are partly induced by estrogen. We investigated 6 single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes encoding enzymes involved in estrogen metabolism in relation to sex- and age-specific differences in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) outcome under the treatment of diuretics, calcium-channel blockers (CCBs), angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors, and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs).We included 5064 subjects (age: 40-82) from the population-based CoLaus cohort. Participants were genotyped for the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (COMT) variants rs4680, rs737865, and rs165599; the uridine-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase 1A gene family (UGT1A) variants rs2070959 and rs887829; and the aromatase gene (CYP19A1) variant rs10046. Binomial and linear regression analyses were performed correcting for age, sex, body mass index, smoking, diabetes, and antihypertensive therapy to test whether the variants in focus are significantly associated with BP.All investigated COMT variants were strongly associated with the effect of diuretics, CCBs, and ARBs on SBP or DBP (P < .05), showing an additive effect when occurring in combination. After Bonferroni correction the polymorphism rs4680 (ValMet) in COMT was significantly associated with lower SBP in participants treated with CCBs (P = .009) with an especially strong impact in elderly individuals (age ≥ 70) alone (Δ = -14.08 mm Hg, P = .0005).These results underline the important role of estrogens and catecholamines in hypertension and the importance of genotype dependent, age-related adjustments of calcium-channel blocker treatment.

Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Deficiency Leads to Hypersensitivity of the Pressor Response Against Angiotensin II

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) metabolizes 2-hydroxyestradiol into 2-methoxyestradiol (2-ME); COMT deficiency has shown to be associated with hypertension in men and preeclampsia, the disease associated with hypersensitivity of pressor response against angiotensin II (Ang II). Here, we found that COMT deficiency could explain the hypersensitivity of pressor response against Ang II in mice because of the lack of 2-ME–dependent suppression of angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1R). Male C57BL/6 mice were subjected to COMT inhibitor (COMTi: 25 mg/kg per day) or oil (control) for 4 weeks, with or without low-dose Ang II infusion (ANGII: 70 ng/kg per minute) for the last 3 weeks. The Ang II–infused mice were treated with 2-ME (10 ng/d) or vehicle for the last 1 week. We obtained the following experimental groups: control, ANGII, COMTi, COMTi+ANGII, and COMTi+ANGII+2-ME. We performed similar experiments using the in vivo administration of small interfering RNA of COMT instead of COMTi. Neither ANGII nor COMTi exhibited significant alterations in systolic blood pressure. Compared with ANGII or COMTi, COMTi+ANGII displayed significantly higher systolic blood pressure, albuminuria, and glomerular endotheliosis; 2-ME normalized such alterations. Similar phenotypes were observed in COMT small interfering RNA–treated mice. In the aorta of COMT-deficient mice, AT1R expression was increased; 2-ME suppressed AT1R expression. The 2-ME exhibited peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ agonistic activity in vitro and ex vivo plasma from pregnant female mice as well. In vitro, 2-ME suppressed both basal and Ang II–induced AT1R levels in a peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ–dependent manner. The 2-ME is relevant to combat COMT deficiency–associated hypertensive disorders via suppression of AT1R by its peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ activity.

Associations between the CDKN2A/B, ADTRP and PDGFD polymorphisms and the development of coronary atherosclerosis in Japanese patients

AIM

Genome-wide association studies have identified a series of susceptibility loci for coronary artery disease(CAD). The present study attempted to replicate the results for eight of these loci, CDKN2A/B(rs1333049), ADTRP(rs6903956), PDGFD(rs974819), TCF21(rs12190287), COL4A1-A2(rs4773144), HHIPL1(rs2895811), ADAMTS7(rs4380028) and UBE2Z(rs46522), in patients with pathologically defined atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries.

METHODS

Autopsy cases of elderly Japanese subjects were enrolled in the JG-SNP study(n=1,536). Polymorphisms were genotyped, and their associations with the coronary stenosis index(CSI) and incidence of pathological myocardial infraction(MI) were investigated. The potential combinatorial effects of the susceptibility loci were also assessed.

RESULTS

Among the eight loci tested, three exhibited signs of positive associations. CDKN2A/B showed the most robust associations with CSI and MI(p=0.007 and OR=1.843, 95% CI 1.293-2.629, p=0.001, for CC＋CG vs. GG). In addition, ADTRP demonstrated associations with CSI and MI, although the risk allele was opposite from that observed in the original report(p=0.008 and OR=1.652, 95% CI 1.027-2.656, p=0.038 for GG vs. AA＋AG). Meanwhile, PDGFD displayed a suggestive association with CSI in women, but not men(p=0.023). CDKN2A/B and ADTRP were also found to be significantly associated with the severity of the CSI in a case-control setting. The cumulative risk allele counting of CDKN2A/B, ADTRP and PDGFD indicated an increased number of risk alleles to be associated with a higher CSI(p=4.61E-05).

CONCLUSIONS

The present study confirmed the association between CDKN2A/B and CAD and identified a different associated risk allele of ADTRP. PDGFD was found to exhibit a gender-specific association with CAD. The combination of multiple risk alleles may be associated with a higher risk of CAD.

CHD@ZJU: a knowledgebase providing network-based research platform on coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease (CHD), the leading cause of global morbidity and mortality in adults, has been reported to be associated with hundreds of genes. A comprehensive understanding of the CHD-related genes and their corresponding interactions is essential to advance the translational research on CHD. Accordingly, we construct this knowledgebase, CHD@ZJU, which records CHD-related information (genes, pathways, drugs and references) collected from different resources and through text-mining method followed by manual confirmation. In current release, CHD@ZJU contains 660 CHD-related genes, 45 common pathways and 1405 drugs accompanied with >8000 supporting references. Almost half of the genes collected in CHD@ZJU were novel to other publicly available CHD databases. Additionally, CHD@ZJU incorporated the protein-protein interactions to investigate the cross-talk within the pathways from a multi-layer network view. These functions offered by CHD@ZJU would allow researchers to dissect the molecular mechanism of CHD in a systematic manner and therefore facilitate the research on CHD-related multi-target therapeutic discovery. Database URL: http://tcm.zju.edu.cn/chd/