Apolipoprotein E Gene Polymorphism and Coronary Artery Disease Risk Among Patients in Northwest China

Purpose: The association between apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene polymorphisms and the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) among different populations has been assessed in numerous previous studies, but the results remain inconclusive. The present study aimed to determine the role of ApoE genotypes in CAD risk and the interrelationships between lipid profiles and ApoE alleles and genotypes among the population of northwest China. Patients and Methods: This study was performed on 308 patients with CAD and 308 control participants. ApoE gene polymorphism was analysed using the polymerase chain reaction and hybridization. Results: The findings indicated that the frequencies of epsilon 3/epsilon 4 genotype and epsilon 4 allele frequency were significantly higher in patients with CAD than in the control participants. epsilon 2 carriers had significantly lower total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides (TG) levels than did epsilon 3 or epsilon 4 carriers among the control partici-pants. However, our study found no significant differences in plasma lipoprotein levels between e2, e3 and e4 carriers in patients with CAD. Moreover, epsilon 4 carriers had significantly higher ApoB, ApoB/ApoA-I levels and significantly lower ApoE levels in both patients with CAD and control participants. epsilon 4 allele presence was associated with a nearly two-fold higher CAD risk. After adjusting for other established risk factors, epsilon 4 allele was an independent risk factor for CAD. After stratified by age (<= 60 years and >60 years), epsilon 4 allele was indicated to increase the CAD risk 3.3-fold in elderly patients with CAD, but not in young patients with CAD. After stratified by sex, epsilon 4 allele was not a risk factor in females and males patients with CAD. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that the epsilon 4 allele, drinking, smoking, hyperten-sion, and TG and ApoE levels are independent risk factor for CAD among patients in northwest China.

Automated summary

This study showed that the ε4 allele is closely related to CAD risk in the northwest Chinese population, especially in elderly patients. Additionally, carriers of the ε4 allele had significantly different levels of lipoproteins and were associated with an increased risk of CAD.