Decorin Genotypes, Serum Glucose, Heart Rate, and Cerebrovascular Events: The Tampere Adult Population Cardiovascular Risk Study

Decorin is an extracellular matrix proteoglycan that may attenuate progression of atherosclerosis and its complications, such as stroke. Among its multitude of functions, decorin has been suggested to serve as a receptor for resistin, an adipokine involved in energy homeostasis. The GG genotype of the decorin polymorphism rs7308752 (A>G) and the CC genotype of the rs516115 (T>C) are associated with decreased plasma resistin levels. The association of the above decorin genotypes with selected cardiometabolic risk factors and cerebrovascular events was studied in the Tampere adult population cardiovascular risk (TAMRISK) study. A Finnish cohort of 336 subjects with diagnosed hypertension and 444 controls was analyzed. Samples were genotyped for decorin rs7308752 and rs516115 polymorphisms using a Competitive Allele-Specific PCR (KASP) technique. Cerebrovascular diseases (I60-I69), including transient cerebral ischemic attacks (G45), were followed up from 2005 to 2014. Subjects with either of decorin rs7308752 genotypes AG/GG had higher serum glucose (p = 0.015) and higher heart rate (p = 0.017) than those with AA genotype. Similarly, decorin rs516115 genotypes TC/CC were associated with higher serum glucose (p = 0.034) and higher frequency of cerebrovascular diseases (p = 0.015) compared to the TT genotype. However, decorin polymorphisms were not associated with hypertension or body mass index. These two decorin polymorphisms appear to have biological relevance in human vascular pathophysiology.