Genetics
CETP variant rs708272 improves diagnostic accuracy for identifying patients with active atherosclerosis (Swiss Med Wkly 2010)
Original title: A CETP polymorphism improves the diagnostic power of clinical examination in patients with cardiovascular disease
This study tested whether molecular markers could improve early clinical identification of patients at risk of complicated active atherosclerosis, in men and women seeking care at an academic teaching hospital in Basel, Switzerland between September 2003 and March 2005, comparing up to 57 patients with a history of cardiovascular events to 57 age- and sex-matched patients without such events, drawn from a cohort of 269 individuals. Of nine common single-nucleotide polymorphisms tested, CETP rs708272 was significantly associated with cardiovascular events (p=0.02). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for clinical examination alone was 0.627 (95% CI 0.525-0.730, p=0.02), increasing to 0.672 (95% CI 0.571-0.772, p=0.002) when the CETP polymorphism was added to the assessment. The authors conclude information about high-impact SNPs such as CETP rs708272 may help predict an active, symptomatic course of atherosclerosis.
Original abstract
Aims: Atherosclerosis is common and myocardial infarction, stroke and peripheral arterial occlusive disease are its devastating complications. Accurate risk prediction is urgently needed. We applied molecular tests to improve early clinical identification of patients threatened by a future course of complicated active atherosclerosis.
Methods And Results: Participants were men and women seeking care in a department of general internal medicine at an academic teaching hospital in Basel, Switzerland, between September 2003 and March 2005. A maximum number of 57 patients with a medical history of proven cardiovascular events and 57 age- and gender-matched patients without cardiovascular events were selected from this cohort of 269 individuals. One of nine common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) reportedly linked to cardiovascular disease was significantly associated with cardiovascular events (p = 0.02). For CETPrs708272, the allele number per patient predisposing to cardiovascular events improved the discriminating power of clinical phenotyping for active versus inactive atherosclerosis. The area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) for clinical examination alone was 0.627 (95% CI 0.525-0.730, p = 0.02) and increased to 0.672 (95% CI 0.571-0.772, p = 0.002) when the polymorphism was included in the assessment.
Conclusions: Information about common SNPs with high impact on the individual cardiovascular risk, such as CETPrs708272, may help to predict an active, symptomatic course atherosclerosis.
Summary written by cetpinhibition.org from the published abstract; figures as published. Page updated 19 August 2026. Methods.