Six candidate genes (SLC17A1, SLC17A4 and SLC2A9 were not under consideration in this section of result due to their mRNA expressions had been studied in our previous study17) in the two pathways, showed at least one significant difference in relative expression between the groups, suggesting that these loci may influence the risk of hyperuricemia and gout through alterations in their relative expression levels. Here, SLC17A4 is linked to hyperuricemia.