Background: HMGCR(3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase), the direct target of statin inhibition, undergoes alternative splicing of exon 13, which encodes part of the statin-binding domain of the enzyme. We hypothesized that HMGCR alternative splicing might be related to the interindividual variation in plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol response to statin treatment.
Methods and results: We measured mRNA expression of both the full-length and the alternatively spliced HMGCR transcript lacking exon 13 (HMGCRv_1) in 170 simvastatin-incubated immortalized lymphocyte cell lines derived from participants in the Cholesterol and Pharmacogenetics (CAP) study who were treated with simvastatin 40 mg/d for 6 weeks. Greater upregulation of HMGCRv_1 in vitro was significantly correlated (P<or=0.0001) with smaller in vivo reductions of plasma total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apoprotein B, and triglycerides and explained 6% to 15% of the variation in their response to treatment. In contrast, no significant relationship was found between expression of the full-length HMGCR transcript and in vivo response. By siRNA knockdown of the full-length transcript, we found that HMGCR enzyme activity measured in cells enriched in HMGCRv_1 was relatively resistant to statin inhibition, consistent with the association of increased alternative splicing with reduced statin response in the CAP study. In addition, we found that a common HMGCR single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs3846662) located within intron 13 was associated with variation in the proportion of HMGCR mRNA that is alternatively spliced.
Conclusions: Variation in the production of an HMGCR isoform with reduced statin sensitivity is a determinant of interindividual differences in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and triglyceride response to statin treatment.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00451828.