Association of endothelin genetic variants and hospitalized infection complications in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients

Background: Infection is the second most common cause of mortality for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), accompanying with immune dysfunction. Endothelin (EDN) is known to be related to inflammation; however, it is unknown whether genetic variants of the EDN gene family are associated with increased risk of hospitalized infection events. Methods: Nineteen tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (tSNPs) of the EDN gene family were selected for genotyping a cohort of 190 ESRD patients. Patient demographics were recorded, the subtypes of infection events were identified, and association analysis between the EDN genetic variants and hospitalized infection events was performed. Results: In this study, 106 patients were hospitalized for infection events. The leading events were pneumonia, bacteremia, and cellulitis. The minor allele of rs260741, rs197173, and rs926632 SNPs of EDN3 were found to be associated with reduced risk of hospitalized bacteremia events. Conclusions: The minor allele of rs260741, rs197173, and rs926632 in EDN3 were associated with reduced risk of hospitalized bacteremia events in ESRD patients.