ST6GAL1 polymorphisms influence susceptibility and progression of IgA nephropathy in a Chinese Han population

Abstract Background ST6GAL1 has been identified as a novel susceptibility gene for IgA nephropathy (IgAN) in a previous genome-wide association study. The present study is aimed at exploring whether the genetic polymorphisms of ST6GAL1 gene correlate with IgAN susceptibility, clinical phenotypes and progression in a Chinese Han population. Methods Twenty-six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ST6GAL1 were genotyped in 1000 biopsy-proven IgAN patients and 1000 control subjects of Chinese Han population using Sequenom MassARRAY iPLEX. A logistic regression analysis with age and sex as covariates was performed to evaluate the effects of ST6GAL1 gene polymorphisms on IgAN susceptibility. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard models were applied to analyze the associations between genetic variants and renal survival. Results We found that rs7634389 (OR = 1.24, 95 % CI = 1.02−1.50, pdominant = 0.034) and rs6784233 (OR = 1.23, 95 % CI = 1.05−1.45, padditive = 0.013; OR = 1.28, 95 % CI = 1.05−1.55, pdominant = 0.014) were associated with susceptibility of IgAN. In addition, rs7634389 was correlated with hyperuricemia (OR = 1.27, p =  0.012) and segmental glomerulosclerosis (OR = 1.21, p = 0.047) in IgAN patients. Furthermore, rs7634389 was independently associated with renal survival after adjustments for multiple confounders (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.51, 95 % CI = 0.33−0.78, p =  0.002). Haplotype analysis for ST6GAL1 polymorphisms confirmed their associations with the susceptibility to IgAN. Conclusions Our research suggested that ST6GAL1 gene polymorphisms were implicated in IgAN susceptibility and clinical outcome in a Chinese Han population.