Long Noncoding RNA MALAT1 Polymorphism Predicts MACCEs in Patients with Myocardial Infarction

Background: Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) participates in the occurrence and development of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke and coronary heart disease by regulating inflammatory reactions, programmed cell death, and other pathological processes. Previous studies revealed that the MALAT1 gene polymorphism was associated with cardiac and cerebrovascular diseases. However, the prognostic role of the MALAT1 polymorphism in major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) remains unknown. Therefore, this study intends to explore the association between the MALAT1 rs3200401 polymorphism and MACCEs.

Method: We enrolled 617 myocardial infarction (MI) patients and 1125 control participants who attended the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from January 2010 to 2018. SNPscan™ typing assays were used to detect the MALAT1 rs3200401 genotype. During the follow-up, MACCEs were recorded. Kaplan-Meier curves and univariate and multivariate Cox survival analyses were used to explore the correlation between MALAT1 gene polymorphisms and the occurrence of MACCEs.

Results: Among the total participants and MI patients, the frequencies of the T allele (total Participants 19.5% vs. 15.3%, P = 0.047, MI patients 20.7% vs. 14.1%, P = 0.014) and CT + TT genotypes (total Participants 37.4% vs. 28.1%, P = 0.013, MI patients 39.5% vs. 25.8%, P = 0.003) were significantly higher in subjects with MACCEs than in subjects without MACCEs. However, in control participants, the frequencies of the T allele (16.6% vs. 16.0%, P = 0.860) and CT + TT genotypes (31.4% vs. 29.3%, P = 0.760) were not higher in subjects with MACCEs than in subjects without MACCEs. In addition, among the total participants and MI patients, the Kaplan-Meier curve analysis indicated that the subjects with rs3200401 CT + TT genotypes had a higher incidence of MACCEs than CC genotype carriers (P = 0.015, P = 0.001). Nevertheless, similar results were not observed in the control participants (P = 0.790). Multivariate Cox regression indicated that compared with patients with the CC genotype, patients with CT + TT genotypes had a 1.554-fold increase in MACCE risk (hazard ratio: 1.554, 95% confidence interval: 1.060-2.277, P = 0.024).

Conclusions: The MALAT1 rs3200401 CT + TT genotypes could be a risk factor for MACCEs in MI patients, suggesting that the MALAT1 gene may become a biomarker for poor prognosis in MI patients.