title: Apolipoprotein E polymorphism and plasma lipid, lipoprotein, and apolipoprotein levels in Italian children.
abstract: We have investigated the effect of apolipoprotein (apo) E polymorphism on serum lipid, lipoprotein, and apolipoprotein levels in a sample of 195 children, aged 8-11 years, from Sezze, Central Italy. The relative frequencies of e2, e3, and e4 alleles were 0.062, 0.867, and 0.072, respectively. Variation at the apo E gene locus explained 5.1% of the sample variance in serum total cholesterol levels, 7.6% in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, 7.3% in apo B levels, and 14.1% in high-density lipoprotein-apo E (HDL-E) levels. The effect of the e2 allele was to lower levels of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and apo B and to raise levels of HDL-E, while the effect of the e4 allele was the opposite. Variation at the apo E gene locus was not associated with differences in serum triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, or apo AI levels. The effects of common apo E polymorphisms and genetic variation associated with the PvuII RFLP of the apo B gene on serum apo B levels were additive, explaining 11.3% of the phenotypic variance in this sample. When the effect of apo E polymorphism on serum lipid traits was estimated in boys and girls separately, variation at the apo E gene locus explained 10.4, 13.3, 13.3, and 13.5% of the phenotypic variance in serum total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, apo B, and HDL-E levels, respectively, in boys, while in girls only the effect on HDL-E levels (19.3%) reached statistical significance. This study has demonstrated that genetic variations at the apo E locus contribute to the determination of serum lipid, lipoprotein, and apolipoprotein levels in youths and that the effects are gender specific.
authors.affiliation: Charing Cross Sunley Research Centre, London, UK.
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Talmud
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Angelico
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Del Ben
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Savill
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Humphries
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001053:Apolipoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001053:Apolipoproteins; D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D008055:Lipids; D008074:Lipoproteins