Association between tumor necrosis factor superfamily member 4 gene polymorphism and risk of asymptomatic carotid vulnerable plaque in a Chinese population

Objective Vulnerable plaque of carotid artery is one of the risk factors of atherosclerotic cerebral infarction. Detection and treatment of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque of carotid artery before symptoms of cerebral infarction is an effective way to prevent atherosclerotic cerebral infarction. Tumor necrosis factor superfamily member 4 (TNFSF4) plays a key role in the process of atherosclerosis, a common risk factor for both myocardial and cerebral infarctions. Studies have indicated that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3850641 in TNFSF4 is associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction and SNP rs3861950 in TNFSF4 is associated with higher risk of atherosclerosis cerebral infarction (ACI) ,but little is known about the association between TNFSF4 variations and vulnerable plaque of carotid artery. Methods A case-control study involving 510 patients with asymptomatic vulnerable plaque of carotid artery and 485 age and sex matched healthy subjects without vulnerable plaque of carotid artery was conducted in Hunan province. Asymptomatic vulnerable plaque of carotid artery means vulnerable plaque of carotid artery without cerebral infarction. Two SNPs of TNFSF4, rs3850641 and rs3861950, were genotyped by the TaqMan SNP genotyping method, and verified partly by Genomic DNA Sequencing. Results The results revealed a significant allelic association between rs3861950 and asymptomatic vulnerable plaque of carotid artery in case group (χ2=9.13, P=0.003; OR=1.41, 95%CI: 1.12-1.76) . Compared with control subjects, the difference in genotype was significant in case group (χ2=25.28, P<0.000 1) . However, there was no significant association between rs3850641 and asymptomatic vulnerable plaque of carotid artery (OR=1.16, 95%CI: 0.92-1.46; χ2=1.47, P=0.225) . Conclusion TNFSF4 gene polymorphism rs3861950 was associated with the risk of vulnerable plaques of carotid artery in a Chinese population, which might be middle phenotype indicating higher risk of cerebral infarction. Key words: Carotid vulnerable plaque; Tumor necrosis factor superfamily member 4 gene; Atherosclerosis; Cerebral infarction