Indirect Genetic Effects of ADIPOQ Variants on Lipid Levels in a Sibling Study of a Rural Chinese Population

Variations in lipid levels are the result of combinations of genetic and environmental factors. We aim to investigate the indirect effect between siblings of the three polymorphisms of ADIPOQ on serum lipid levels in rural Chinese populations. A total of 2571 sibling pairs were enrolled as study participants. A generalized estimating equation was used to accommodate a family-based design. We used stratified analysis to detect sex combination differences in the indirect genetic effect. We found a significant association between the number of altered risk alleles of rs182052 and ego lipid levels of TG (beta = 0.177, P = 0.003), TC (beta = 0.140, P = 0.004) and LDL-C (beta = 0.098, P = 0.014). Ego and altered genotypes of rs182052 demonstrated a joint effect on ego lipid levels of TC (beta = 0.212, P = 0.019), HDL-C (beta = 0.099, P = 0.002) and LDL-C (beta = 0.177, P = 0.013) in recessive inheritance mode. In opposite-sex siblings, the altered GG genotype of rs182052 increased the ego lipid levels. Thus, our findings demonstrate that ADIPOQ has an indirect genetic effect on lipid levels in sibling pairs, and there are sex-combination differences in the indirect genetic effect in siblings.