Polymorphisms in the calcineurin genes are associated with the training responsiveness of cardiac phenotypes in Chinese young adults

We studied the association of 55 polymorphisms in the PPP3CA, PPP3CB, PPP3CC, PPP3R1 and PPP3R2 genes with both (1) the pre-training levels and (2) responsiveness to endurance training (18 weeks), of echocardiographic variables. The latter were measured both before and after the training program at each of the following time points: before (rest), during and after cycle-ergometry exercise. Subjects were healthy young Chinese men of Han origin [n = 102; mean (SD) age: 19 ± 1 years]. To assess genotype:phenotype associations at pre-training, we used a one-factor (genotype) ANOVA for each polymorphism. To assess the association between each polymorphism and the training responsiveness of cardiac phenotypes, we used a two-factor (genotype x training) ANOVA with repeated measures. All multiple comparisons were corrected for mass significance. For genotype:phenotype associations at pre-training, we only found a significant association between the rs3763679 polymorphism (PPP3CB) and resting heart rate. As for genotype associations with trainability of cardiac phenotypes, we found the following significant associations (i.e. significant genotype × training interaction effect): (1) rs1879793, rs1075534, rs7430, rs2461483 and rs10108011 (PPP3CC) and cardiac output/stroke volume after exercise; and (2) rs1407877 (PPP3R2) and ejection fraction at 50 W. The findings suggest that polymorphisms in the calcineurin genes might be among the numerous potential genetic variant candidates that can help explaining human variations in the pre-training levels or trainability of cardiac phenotype traits.