Aims/hypothesis: Genetic variants of upstream transcription factor 1 (USF1) have previously been associated with dyslipidaemias in family studies. Our aim was to further address the role of USF1 in metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular traits at the population level in a large Swedish male cohort (n=2,322) with multiple measurements for risk factors during 32 years of follow-up.
Methods: Participants, born in 1920-1924, were examined at 50, 60, 70 and 77 years of age. The follow-up period for cardiovascular events was 1970-2002. We genotyped three haplotype tagging polymorphisms capturing the major allelic variants of USF1.
Results: SNP rs2774279 was associated with the metabolic syndrome. The minor allele of rs2774279 was less common among individuals with metabolic syndrome than among healthy controls [p=0.0029 when metabolic syndrome was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III; p=0.0073 when defined according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF)]. The minor allele of rs2774279 was also associated with lower BMI, lower fasting glucose values and higher HDL-cholesterol concentrations in longitudinal analyses. With SNP rs2073658, a borderline association with metabolic syndrome was observed (p=0.036, IDF), the minor allele being the risk-increasing allele. The minor allele of rs2073658 also associated with higher total and LDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein B-100 and lipoprotein(a) concentrations in longitudinal analyses. Importantly, these trends with respect to the allelic variants prevailed throughout the follow-up time of three decades.
Conclusions/interpretation: Our results suggest that USF1 variants associate with the metabolic syndrome at population level and influence the cardiovascular risk factors throughout adulthood in a consistent, longitudinal manner.