Meta-Analyses of Epigenetics Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Health: APOA5 Human Gene Variations Across Different Race-Ethnicity Groups

Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to disseminate current evidence on population genome health, through the meta-analyses of epigenetic risk factors, for cardiovascular (CV) health. CV Disease (CVD) continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. Studies have associated Apolipoprotein A5 (APOA5, 1131T>C, rs662799) gene polymorphism with plasma triglyceride levels for CVD. Life style risk factors such as smoking, alcohol intake, and physical inactivity were associated with increased risks for CVD.

Methods: Literature searches, quality scores, and inter-rater evaluation on data coding were completed to ensure data accuracy for pooled meta-analyses.

Results: Preliminary analyses included 11,340 CVD cases and 18,758 controls from 37 studies. The gene mutation variations (TC and CC subtypes) in Asian populations were higher (53.1-42.4%) than Caucasian populations (21.4–10.2%) across the world, for control and case groups. For validation, pollution indicators were checked and shown worse in Asia than other countries. For lifestyle related meta-analyses, smoking was associated with an increased risk of CVD (18 studies, 5,035 cases, 9,140 controls, RR=1.70, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.39-2.08, p < 0.0001). However, alcohol intake (5 studies, 1,646 cases, 3094 controls, RR=1.42, 0.86-2.34) and physical inactivity (4 studies, 466 cases, 1,005 controls, RR=0.91, 0.74-1.13) were not significant for pooled meta-analyses.

Conclusion: For association of APOA5 gene variations, genotype TT (61.1% cases, 69.9% controls) was protective against CVD for all populations combined (RR = 0.78, 0.74-0.83, p < 0.0001). APOA5 is a key gene for triglyceride metabolism to reduce inflammation for epigenetics in the methylation pathways. Future studies are needed to examine epigenetic factors for population health associated with APOA5 gene variations in the prevention of CVD.