Significance of apolipoprotein E gene polymorphism in patients with coronary heart disease.

Objective To study the influence of apolipoprotein E polymorphism on the occurrence of coronary heart disease(CHD).Methods Ninetyeight cases and eighty-seven control subjects confirmed through coronary artery angiography were enrolled and their plasma levels of triglyceride(TG),total cholesterol(TC),low density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C) were determined.Polymorphism of apolipoprotein E alleles were measured by polymerase chain reaction(PCR),restriction fragment length polymorphism(RFLP),Hha endonuclease digestion and polyacrylamideg electrophoresis.Results There were significant differences in gene frequency of ApoE between CHD and control group.ApoE3/4 genetype and E4 allele frequency in CHD group were higher than those in control group.TC and LDL levels of CHD group were higher than control(P0.05).Conclusion ApoE3/4 genotypes and E4 allele are some of the hereditary factors which effect the level of serum TC,LDL-C,and furthuremore lead the occurrence of coronary atherosclerosis and CHD.ApoE4 may be an independent genetic risk factor in subjects predisposed to CHD.