Cardiovascular disease risk in patients with elevated LDL-C levels: FH vs. non-FH

Haomin Huang; Lamei Li; Anni Yang; Tao Chen; Ganwei Shi; Feng Li; Luya Wang; Gaojun Cai

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2024.1434392

Cardiovascular disease risk in patients with elevated LDL-C levels: FH vs. non-FH

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2024 Oct 24:11:1434392. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1434392. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Haomin Huang^#¹, Lamei Li^#², Anni Yang², Tao Chen², Ganwei Shi², Feng Li², Luya Wang³, Gaojun Cai²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
² Department of Cardiology, Wujin Hospital Affiliated with Jiangsu University, The Wujin Clinical College of Xuzhou Medical University, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China.
³ Department of Atherosclerosis, Beijing Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood Vessel Diseases, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains the primary cause of death worldwide, and familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a common disease that leads to CAD. This study aimed to explore the difference in CAD risk between FH and non-FH patients with high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels.

Methods: Individuals (≥18 years) who underwent coronary angiography (CAG) from June 2016 to September 2020 were consecutively enrolled. Participants with LDL-C levels ≥4.0 mmol/L were ultimately included in this study. For all participants, next-generation sequencing was performed with expanded gene panels including 11 genes (LDLR, APOB, PCSK9, LDLRAP1, ABCG5, ABCG8, LIPA, LPA, APOBR, LRPAP1, and STAP1).

Results: A total of 223 individuals were included in this study. According to the CAG findings, 199 CAD patients and 24 non-CAD patients were included. The proportions of FH genes, regardless of whether 3 major genes or all 11 genes were sequenced, were not significantly different between the CAD and non-CAD groups (P > 0.05). In addition, all CAD patients were divided into a triple vessel disease (TVD) group and a non-TVD group. The TVD group had a greater proportion of patients with mutations in 3 FH major genes (P < 0.05). In addition, TC, LDL-C and modified LDL-C (MLDL-C) levels were higher and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was lower in the TVD group than in the non-TVD group (all P < 0.05). However, multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that only the eGFR was an independent risk factor for TVD (OR 0.99; 95% CI: 0.98-1.00, P < 0.05). To eliminate the impact of the eGFR, subgroup analysis was conducted, and the results indicated that among CAD patients in the high-eGFR group, having FH mutations in 3 major genes was an independent risk factor for TVD (OR 3.00; 95% CI: 1.16-7.79, P < 0.05). In total, 104 FH-related mutations were detected in this study.

Conclusions: FH mutation did not increase the rate of CAD in individuals with an MLDL-C level ≥4.0 mmol/L. However, among CAD patients (MLDL-C level ≥4.0 mmol/L) with almost normal renal function (≥87.4 ml/min/1.73 m²), the probability of enduring TVD in those with FH mutations in 3 major genes was 3.00 times greater than that in those without FH mutations.

Keywords: coronary artery disease; familial hypercholesterolemia; genetic testing; inherited disease; polygenic risk score.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFC2500600, 2021YFC2500602) to Luya Wang and grants from the Changzhou High-Level Medical Talents Training Project (Grant No. 2022CZBJ102) to Gaojun Cai.