Lack of Association Between Polymorphisms in AGT and ATR1 and IgA Nephropathy in a Chinese Population

Objective: The mechanism of immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) remains unclear. Genetic factors may be associated with the risk of IgAN. This study aims to identify the possible association of M268T (rs699) in the Angiotensinogen (AGT) gene and A1166C (rs5186) in the Angiotensin II receptor type 1 (ATR1) gene with IgAN risk.

Methods: Study subjects included 351 patients with IgAN and 310 controls from the Chinese population. The tag SNPs (tSNPs) were genotyped by Sequenom MassARRAY RS1000. Statistical analysis of the association between tSNPs and IgAN was performed using the χ(2) test and SNPStats software.

Results: The AGT (M268T) genotypes were distributed in IgAN as CC 61.9%, CT 34.8%, and TT 3.2%, while in controls CC 64.1%, CT 31.3%, and TT 4.6%. Distribution of ATR1 (A1166C) was AA 87.7%, CA 12.3%, and CC 0%, while in controls AA 87.2%, CA 12%, and CC 0.8%. We further analyzed tSNPs under different inheritance models and found that there were no significant differences in the genotypes and allele frequencies of rs699 and rs5186 between two groups (p > 0.05). We also analyzed tSNPs based on the rate of pressure, proteinuria and Lee's classification, and no significant differences were found in the models (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: rs699 in the AGT gene and rs5186 in the ATR1 gene were not associated with the risk and clinical outcomes of IgAN.