title: Apolipoprotein B gene polymorphisms are associated with lipid levels in men of South Asian descent.
abstract: Three polymorphic sites of the apolipoprotein B gene - the insertion/deletion signal peptide, XbaI and EcoRI sites - were examined in a sample of 107 healthy men and in 46 men with evidence of coronary heart disease selected from a large population survey of South Asians aged 40-69 in London, U.K. There were no significant differences in allele frequencies between cases and controls. Frequencies of the ins (insertion) and X- (absence of XbaI cutting site) alleles were higher in South Asians than in Europeans studied previously (South Asians versus Europeans ins: 0.80 vs. 0.68, P less than 0.025; X-: 0.71 vs. 0.47-0.56, P less than 0.001). The del allele was associated with higher levels of total cholesterol (P less than 0.05) and the X+ allele with lower levels of HDL cholesterol (P less than 0.05), and thus both polymorphisms were associated with differences in the ratio of HDL cholesterol to total cholesterol (ins/del, P less than 0.01; XbaI, P less than 0.001). Mean waist-hip girth ratio was lower in the 10 men homozygous for the X+ allele than in the 42 men with X-/X+ and 55 men with X-/X- genotypes; the means (+/- SEM) were 0.92 +/- 0.02, 0.97 +/- 0.01 and 0.96 +/- 0.01 respectively (P = 0.03). These data suggest that genetic variation in linkage disequilibrium with the XbaI and ins/del polymorphisms of the apo B gene contributes to the determination of total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels and possibly to obesity in South Asians.
authors.affiliation: Arterial Diseases Research Group, Charing Cross Sunley Research Centre, Hammersmith, London, U.K.
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Renges
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Wile
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: McKeigue
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Marmot
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Humphries
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D001055:Apolipoproteins B / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics; D004739:England; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
chemical_list: D001055:Apolipoproteins B; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008055:Lipids; D002784:Cholesterol