FRIDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Statin therapy significantly reduces the incidence of coronary and other major vascular events irrespective of the KIF6 Trp719Arg polymorphism (rs20455) genotype, according to a study published online March 30 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Jemma C. Hopewell, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues investigated the effects of the KIF6 genotype on vascular risk and response to statin therapy in 18,348 participants from the Heart Protection Study (HPS). The participants all received 40 mg of simvastatin a day for four to six weeks, and were then randomly assigned to 40 mg daily of simvastatin or placebo for five years. The study outcomes included major coronary events (coronary death or nonfatal myocardial infarction), and major vascular events (a major coronary event together with revascularization or stroke).
The investigators observed a 42 percent reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients treated with simvastatin with no significant correlation to the KIF6 genotype. In the placebo group, there was no significant association between the KIF6 genotype and the risk of incident major vascular or coronary events, revascularizations, or strokes. Patients treated with statin therapy had similar reductions in major vascular events risk, irrespective of their KIF6 genotype (23 percent in Arg/Arg or Arg/Trp; 24 percent in Trp/Trp). Similar results were noted for each of the major coronary events, revascularizations, and strokes.
"The results of the HPS study demonstrate unequivocally that statin therapy produces substantial beneficial effects on coronary and other major vascular events, irrespective of whether an individual is a KIF6 719Arg carrier or noncarrier," the authors write.
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