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Heritability of serum hs-CRP concentration and 5-year changes in the Stanislas family study: association with apolipoprotein E alleles

Genes & Immunity volume 8, pages 352–359 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

We aimed at estimating additive genetic heritability, household component effect and the influence of common alleles of the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) on serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) concentrations and the subsequent changes over 5 years. A sub-sample of 320 nuclear families was randomly selected from the Stanislas Family Study. Serum hs-CRP concentration was measured by immunonephelometry at entrance and after 5 years. APOE alleles were determined by restriction fragment length polymorphism. After adjustment for covariates, the number of the ɛ4 allele was negatively associated with serum concentration of hs-CRP in the whole sample, at entrance and 5 years later, without significant interaction with sex by generation groups (P=0.003 and P=0.0003, respectively). However, no significant association was found between ɛ4 allele and 5-year changes in hs-CRP concentration. Using a variance component analysis, no significant genetic influence was shown in family aggregation of both hs-CRP measurements and 5-year changes; the household common component was between 6.5 and 12.8%. In addition, after adjustment for APOE gene polymorphisms, degrees of resemblance were almost unchanged. In the Stanislas Family Study, ɛ4 allele of the APOE gene was associated with lower hs-CRP concentration, but not with 5-year changes. However, variance component analysis did not evidence a significant polygenic effect.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of the Centre de Médecine Préventive of Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy (France) for their involvement in the recruitment of the STANISLAS cohort. We are indebted to the families of the STANISLAS survey who made this study possible. The STANISLAS cohort study is supported by the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladies des Travailleurs Salariés (CNAM), the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), the Région Lorraine, the Communauté Urbaine du Grand Nancy and the Henri Poincaré University of Nancy I. We would also like to thank David Trégouët (INSERM U 525, Paris, France) for providing the CORFAM program (familial correlation). The authors have no financial interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSERM, U525, Nancy, France

    H Berrahmoune, B Herbeth, G Siest & S Visvikis-Siest

  2. Université Henry Poincaré, Faculté de Pharmacie, Nancy, France

    G Siest

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  1. H Berrahmoune
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Correspondence to S Visvikis-Siest.

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Berrahmoune, H., Herbeth, B., Siest, G. et al. Heritability of serum hs-CRP concentration and 5-year changes in the Stanislas family study: association with apolipoprotein E alleles. Genes Immun 8, 352–359 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gene.6364395

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