Objectives: We asked whether 35 genetic polymorphisms, previously found to be associated with cardiovascular disease, were associated with myocardial infarction (MI) in the CARE (Cholesterol and Recurrent Events) trial and with coronary heart disease (CHD) in the WOSCOPS (West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study) trial and whether the risk associated with these polymorphisms could be reduced by pravastatin treatment.

Background: Identification of genetic polymorphisms associated with CHD may improve assessment of CHD risk and understanding of disease pathophysiology.

Methods: We tested the association between genotype and recurrent MI in the CARE study and between genotype and primary CHD in the WOSCOPS trial using regression models that adjusted for conventional risk factors: Cox proportional hazards models for the CARE study and conditional logistic regression models for a nested case-control study of the WOSCOPS trial.

Results: We found that Trp719Arg (rs20455) in KIF6 was associated with coronary events. KIF6 encodes kinesin-like protein 6, a member of the molecular motor superfamily. In placebo-treated patients, carriers of the KIF6 719Arg allele (59.4% of the CARE trial cohort) had a hazard ratio of 1.50 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05 to 2.15) in the CARE trial and an odds ratio of 1.55 (95% CI 1.14 to 2.09) in the WOSCOPS trial. Among carriers, the absolute risk reduction by pravastatin was 4.89% (95% CI 1.81% to 7.97%) in the CARE trial and 5.49% (95% CI 3.52% to 7.46%) in the WOSCOPS trial.

Conclusions: In both the CARE and the WOSCOPS trials, carriers of the KIF6719Arg allele had an increased risk of coronary events, and pravastatin treatment substantially reduced that risk.