Aims Serum amyloid A protein (SAA) is not only an inflammatory factor, but also an apolipoprotein that can replace apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1) as the major apolipoprotein of HDL, which has been linked to atherosclerosis. However, the relationship between genetic polymorphisms and common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) in healthy subjects remains unclear. We investigated the role of the SAA1 and SAA2 gene polymorphisms with IMT in a cohort of healthy subjects participating in the Cardiovascular Risk Survey (CRS) study.

Methods Anthropometric and B-mode ultrasound of the carotid IMT were measured in 1914 subjects (849 men; 1065 women) recruited from 7 cities in Xinjiang, the west China. Four SNPs (rs12218, rs2229338, rs1059559, and rs2468844) were genotyped by use of PCR—restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method.

Results There was significant difference between mutational genotype (CC+CT genotype) and wild genotype (TT genotype) of rs12218 in carotid IMT [(0.070±0.03) cm vs (0.084±0.03) cm; p<0.001)], and the difference remains significant after multi-adjusted (adjusted for the sex, age, blood pressure, BMI and HDL) [(0.068±0.002 cm vs 0.081±0.003 p =0.008)]. This relationship was also observed in rs246 8844 after multi-adjusted but did not found in rs222 9338 and rs105 9559 before and after multi-adjusted.

Conclusions Both rs12218 of the SAA1 gene and rs246 8844 of SAA2 gene are associated with carotid IMT in healthy Chinese Han subjects.