Search

The Tehran Cardiometabolic Genetic Study (TCGS) is a large population-based cohort study with periodic follow-ups, which created a comprehensive database of 20,367 participants born between 1911-2015 selected from 4 different longitudinal, ongoing, and family-based studies. The study aims to identify the potential targets for prevention and intervention for non-communicable diseases in mid-life and late life. The study focuses on cardiovascular, endocrine, metabolic abnormalities, cancers, and some inherited diseases. Since 2017, the cohort expanded the information by coding all health-related complications (hospitalization outcomes and self-reports) based on ICD11 coding and confirming the consanguineous marriage with genetic markers. This article presents an update on the rationale and design of the study. We also present a summary of our findings and our goals toward precision medicine.

Background: This study aimed to assess the genetic association between Apolipoprotein E (APOE) polymorphisms and susceptibility to metabolic syndrome (MetS) among the Tehran cardiometabolic genetic study (TCGS) participants. The results were then compared with similar studies in other populations using meta-analysis. Methods: the metabolic syndrome was defined according to the Joint Interim Statement (JIS) criteria. A total of 12282 subjects (5696 cases with metabolic syndrome and 6586 healthy controls) were genotyped using Human OmniExpress-24-v1-0 BeadChip. Subsequently, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases were searched using relevant Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms to collect all studies that examined the association between polymorphisms of the APOE gene and risk of MetS. Results: the presence of the APOE-ε4 allele could not significantly increase the risk of MetS in the carriers of this allele compared to individuals lacking the risk allele in the TCGS population (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.32). The meta-analysis results also indicated no significant association between the APOE-ε 4 allele and the risk of MetS. Conclusion: the frequency of the ε4 allele was almost same in the cases and the controls. Therefore, this allele cannot be considered as biomarker to predict the MetS susceptibility in the TCGS population or other populations with different genetic pools.