Risk of gallstones based on ABCG8 rs11887534 single nucleotide polymorphism among Taiwanese men and women

Gallstones are abnormal masses caused by impaired metabolism of cholesterol, bilirubin, or bile salts in the gallbladder or biliary tract. ATP-binding cassette subfamily G member 8 (ABCG8) is a protein that regulates cholesterol efflux from the liver. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analyses of GWAS revealed the ABCG8 rs11887534 variant as the most common genetic determinant of gallstones in humans. These findings have not been extensively replicated in Taiwanese. Therefore, we appraised the relationship between gallstones and rs11887534 in a relatively large Taiwanese sample. We retrieved data collected through questionnaires, physical and biochemical tests from the Taiwan Biobank Bank (TWB). The study participants comprised 7388 men and 13,880 women who voluntarily enrolled in the Taiwan Biobank project between 2008 and 2019. Gallstones were self-reported. The overall sample size was 21,268 comprising 938 gallstone patients and 20,330 non-gallstone individuals. Among the participants, 20,640 had the GG and 628 had the GC + CC genotype. At p-value