Abstract
The serum levels of uric acid is associated with genetic predisposition and environmental factors such as lifestyle, dietary habit and comorbidities. In this cross-sectional study we examined the involvement of environmental factors on the association between serum uric acid and the genotypes of uric acid-related genes, SLC22A12 and ABCG2 in 1,559 local inhabitants who participated in community-based health checkup in the Takahata town in Japan. In multivariate linear regression analysis adjusted for confounding factors, the association between serum uric acid levels and the SNPs of SLC22A12 (rs505802) and ABCG2 (rs2231142) was significant in subjects with preserved renal function (estimated GFR > 60 mL/min/1.73m2), but not in subjects with renal insufficiency (estimated GFR < 60 mL/min/1.73m2). Subgroup analyses among 1,471 subjects with preserved renal function showed that the association between uric acid and these genetic variants was stronger in males than in females and that the association between uric acid and the ABCG2 genotype was stronger in smokers than in non-smokers, with a significant interaction (P = 0.04). This study revealed that the genotypes of SLC22A12 and ABCG2 were independently associated with serum levels of uric acid and the association was affected by the environmental factors such as renal function, gender and smoking habit.
