Genetic and Environmental Biomarkers Associated with Triglyceride Levels in Two Groups of Slovak Women

Objective: This study analyzed the association between the MLXIPL gene polymorphism (rs3812316) and triglyceride (TG) levels and selected environmental biomarkers in Slovak women at risk for cardiovascular disease compared to a reference sample. Materials and Methods: The studied sample consisted of 200 women at cardiovascular risk (mean age 52.96 +/- 6.01 years) and 244 healthy women (mean age 47.52 +/- 5.34 years). Participants gave details of their health and lifestyle during their medical examination, and peripheral blood samples were used for biochemical analyses and DNA genotyping. A nested polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay was used to detect the rs 3812316 SNP. Results: We determined that there were significantly different genotype distributions in two TG categories: (1) subjects with normal TG values had a significantly higher G allele frequency than those with elevated TG levels (chi(2) = 6.1556, df = 2, p = 0.046); and (2) the rare G allele frequency was 0.11 in the cardiovascular risk group and 0.15 in the reference group. Binary regression analysis showed that women with at least one G allele had a significantly lower relative risk of hypertriglyceridemia than women with the CC genotype (OR = 0.399, p = 0.022, 95% CI = 0.182-0.876). Conclusion: This cross-sectional study suggests that MLXIPL rs3812316 genotypes may be associated with TG levels. However, further analysis is advisable because of study limitations.