The association of single nucleotide polymorphism rs189037C>T in ATM gene with coronary artery disease in Chinese Han populations

Accumulated evidence has indicated that ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) is closely related to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. So we aimed to examine potential association between a gene variant [single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), i.e., rs189037C>T] in the promoter of ATM gene and coronary artery disease (CAD) in Chinese Han populations. In this hospital-based case-control study, a total of 1308 participants were divided into CAD group (652 patients) and control group (656 subjects) after performing coronary angiography. The SNP rs189037 was genotyped by using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The distribution of rs189037 genotypes and alleles showed a significant difference between CAD and control subjects (genotypes: P = .032; alleles: P = .028). The percentage of the TT genotype is much higher in control group than that in CAD group (22.0% vs 16.3%, P = .009). After adjustment of the major confounding factors, such difference remained significant (OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.43-0.89, P = .010). After analyzing data from different groups divided by genders and smoking status respectively, we found that the protective effect of TT genotype on CAD was significant in males (P = .007) and smokers (P = .031). The difference remained statistically significant after multivariate adjustment (adjusted in males: OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.38-0.93, P = .022; adjusted in smokers: OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.27-0.81, P = .006). Our study suggests that ATM rs189037 polymorphism is associated with CAD in Chinese Han populations. The TT genotype of rs189037 seems to be associated with a lower risk of CAD and a protective genetic marker of CAD, especially in males and smokers.