Background: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited metabolic disorder characterized by high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) from birth. About 85% of all FH cases are caused by pathogenic variants in the LDLR gene. Individuals with FH have increased cardiovascular risk, including a high risk of premature myocardial infarction (PMI).
Methods: We conducted an opportunistic exome screening to identify variants in the LDLR gene among Vietnamese patients with PMI treated at a general hospital in southern Vietnam. A cascade testing for LDLR variants was conducted in their relatives within three generations, and the effects of the LDLR variant on the response to rosuvastatin treatment were also studied using a comparative before-and-after study design on those who were eligible.
Results: A total of 99 participants from the three generations of four PMI patients were recruited, mean age 37.3 ± 18.5 years, 56.6% males. Sanger sequencing revealed two variants in the LDLR gene: variant rs577934998 (c.664T>C), detected in 17 individuals within one family, and variant rs12710260 (c.1060+10G>C), found in 32 individuals (49.5%) in the other three families tested. Individuals harboring the variant c.664T>C had significantly higher baseline LDL-c and total cholesterol levels compared to those with variant c.1060+10G>C (classified as benign) or those without LDLR variants, and among the 47 patients subjected to a 3-month course of rosuvastatin therapy, those with variant c.664T>C had a significantly higher risk of not achieving the LDL-c target after the course of treatment compared to the c.1060+10G>C carriers.
Conclusions: These findings provide evidence supporting the existence of pathogenic LDLR variants in Vietnamese patients with PMI and their relatives and may indicate the need for personalizing lipid-lowering therapies. Further studies are needed to delineate the extent and severity of the problem.
Keywords: LDLR gene variant; familial hypercholesterolemia; genetic metabolic disease; premature acute myocardial infarction; rosuvastatin.