Background: This study aims to investigate the association between nine
tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the C3 gene locus and the risk of coronary artery disease
(CAD) as well as lipid levels in the Chinese population, and to further explore
the interactions between SNPs and environmental factors that may be associated
with CAD risk. Methods: A case-control study was conducted to
investigate the association between CAD and C3 gene polymorphisms in a
hospital setting. The study consisted of 944 CAD patients with a mean age of
55.97 10.182 years and 897 non-CAD controls with a mean age of 55.94
9.162 years. There were 565 males and 288 females in the CAD group and
583 males and 314 females in the control group. TagSNPs in the C3 gene
were identified by employing the improved multiplex ligation detection reaction
(iMLDR) technique, and multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) analysis was
utilized to investigate the C3 gene–environment and gene–gene
interactions in relation to the risk of CAD. Results: Results of the
polymorphism study indicated that the CC genotype of rs7257062
was more frequent in the CAD group compared to the control group (10.9% vs
7.7%), with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.009).
Moreover, the TT and CC + CT genotype groups of
rs7257062 in the CAD subgroup showed a significant difference in terms
of serum triglyceride levels (2.326 1.889 vs 2.059 1.447,
p = 0.019). Analysis of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), apolipoprotein
A (ApoA), and apolipoprotein B (ApoB) levels revealed no significant differences
between the TT and CC + CT genotypes. Furthermore, no
significant differences in serum lipid levels were observed between genotypes of
the other SNPs. Multivariable logistic analysis, controlling for gender, age,
body mass index (BMI), triglycerides (TG), TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, ApoA and ApoB,
demonstrated that rs7257062 was still an independent risk factor of CAD
(OR = 1.499, 95% CI: 1.036–2.168, p = 0.032). MDR analysis revealed
that the rs7257062 interacted significantly with environmental factors
such as smoking, diabetes, hypertension, BMI, and TG (p 0.05).
Conclusions: The rs7257062 variation of the C3 gene
could be linked to both lipid balance and the risk of CAD. It is conceivable that
the interplay between C3 polymorphisms and environmental elements could
account for the etiology of CAD.