COMT Val158Met polymorphism is associated with blood pressure and lipid levels in general families of Bama longevous area in China

To see the possible relationship between COMT Val158Met polymorphism and blood pressure (BP) and serum lipid levels and its putative role in human longevity, we genotyped COMT Val158Met (rs4680) by PCR-RFLP for members from Bama long-lived families (BLF, n = 1538), Bama non-long-lived families (BNLF, n = 600), Pingguo (a county outside Bama region) long-lived families (PLF, n = 538) and Pingguo non-long-lived families (PNLF, n = 403) after anthropometric measures were collected and serum lipid levels were detected. The distribution of genotypes and alleles among four family groups was significantly different (all P 0.05). Correlation analyses revealed that COMT Val158Met was mainly correlated negatively with SBP, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and LDL-C in BNLF and negatively with TC level in BLF, BNLF and PLF. These data suggest that COMT Val158Met polymorphism may have more impact on the modulation of BP and lipid profiles in the average families than in the long-lived families in Bama region. The association between this SNP and other phenotypes (e.g. cognition) and its roles in the longevity in Bama area thus warrant further investigation.