Genetic predisposition scores for dyslipidaemia influence plasma lipid concentrations at baseline, but not the changes after controlled intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids

Inconsistent effects of fish oil supplementation on plasma lipids may be influenced by genetic variation. We investigated 12 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with dyslipidaemia in genome-wide association studies, in 310 participants randomised to treatment with placebo or 0.45, 0.9 and 1.8 g/day eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3, EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA) (1.51:1) in a 12-month parallel controlled trial. Effects of risk alleles were assessed as trait-specific genetic predisposition scores (GPS) and singly. GPS were positively associated with baseline concentrations of plasma total cholesterol, low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) and negatively with high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol. The TG-GPS was associated with 0.210 mmol/L higher TG per risk allele (P < 0.0001), but no effects of single TG SNPs were significant at baseline. After treatment with EPA and DHA, TG-GPS was associated with 0.023 mmol/L lower TG per risk allele (P = 0.72). No interactions between GPS and treatment were significant; however, FADS1 SNP rs174546 C/T interaction with treatment was a significant determinant of plasma TG concentration (P = 0.047, n = 267). Concentration differed between genotype groups after the 1.8 g/day dose (P = 0.026), decreasing by 3.5 (95 % CI −15.1 to 8.2) % in non-carriers of the risk T-allele (n = 30) and by 21.6 (95 % CI −32.1 to −11.2) % in carriers (n = 37), who showed a highly significant difference between treatments (P = 0.007). Carriers of the FADS1 rs174546 risk allele could benefit from a high intake of EPA and DHA in normalising plasma TG.