Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between methylation levels of tumor suppressing subtransferable candidate 1 (TSSC1) and melanophilin (MLPH) genes in peripheral blood and coronary heart disease (CHD) in Chinese population. METHODS: This case-control study was conducted in 86 CHD patients and 95 healthy individuals, whose methylation levels of TSSC1 and MLPH genes in peripheral blood were determined using mass spectrometry. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the methylation levels in different subgroups. The correlation of TSSC1 and MLPH gene methylation levels with age and gender were evaluated using Spearman correlation coefficient and contingency coefficient, respectively. RESULTS: Compared with the healthy individuals, the CHD patients showed a significant correlation between MLPH hypermethylation and myocardial infarction (MI) (MLPH_CpG_2.7: P=0.045; MLPH_CpG_3/cg06639874: P=0.049; MLPH_CpG_5: P=0.019), and this correlation was even stronger in individuals below 65 years of age (MLPH_CpG_2.7: P=0.014; MLPH_CpG_4: P=0.001) and in male subjects (MLPH_CpG_2.7: P=0.004; MLPH_CpG_3/cg06639874: P=0.044). The methylation level of TSSC1 gene in peripheral blood was not found to correlate with CHD or its subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest a correlation of MLPH hypermethylation in peripheral blood with CHD and MI in Chinese population, especially in individuals below 65 years and in male individuals.