Association of Common Variant Rs2281135 of PNPLA3 with Alcohol-Related Cirrhosis in Chinese Han Males

Background and Aim: Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD), caused by longterm heavy alcohol consumption, is influenced by genetic factors. Studies have illustrated the overlapping genetic mechanism in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and ALD. Recently, a number of Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) have demonstrated several SNPs were strongly associated with NAFLD. The aim of present study is to evaluate the association between these NAFLD-associated SNPs and ALD in Chinese Han population. Methods: Nine SNPs were selected and genotyped in a cohort of 507 patients with ALD and 645 healthy controls by using MassARRAY iPLEX system. Alleles and genotypes analysis of SNPs were performed in logistic regression. The association between SNP and the level of liver serum biomarkers was tested in chi-square test and linear regression model. Results: Our data confirmed that rs2281135 A-allele in PNPLA3 and rs3761472 G-allele in SAMM50 were significantly associated with increased risk of ALD (P = 1.93×10-12, OR [95% CI] = 1.82 [1.54-2.15]; P = 2.08×10-16, OR [95% CI] = 1.06 [1.04-1.08], respectively). The genotypes of rs2281135 were associated with ALD in additive, dominant and recessive genetic model (P = 1.24×10-11, P = 1.46×10-7, P = 2.07×10-9, respectively). In addition, rs2281135 was found to be associated with serum elevated levels of ALT (P = 5.0×10-3), AST (P = 0.03), ALP (P = 0.02), GGT (P = 0.03) in patients with ALD. Conclusions: The present study confirmed that PNPLA3 common variant rs2281135 was significantly associated with ALD in Chinese male Han population.