[Apolipoprotein (a)].
Apo (a) consists of multiple tandem repeat of kringle 4, which resembles a counterpart of plasminogen. Plasma Lp (a) levels are genetically determined primarily by alleles at the apo (a) gene. Apo (a) shows size heterogeneity on the analysis of the protein and the mRNA. Pulse field gel electrophoresis revealed that size heterogeneity is largely due to different numbers of kringle 4-encoding sequences in the apo (a) gene. The cloning of apo (a) gene and identification of the 5'-flanking promoter region provide tools to study the regulation of apo (a) gene. The development of transgenic mice expressing human apo (a) offered a good model for understanding of atherosclerosis associated with elevated plasma levels of Lp (a).
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Toranomon Hospital.
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Okubo
D000818:Animals; D001053:Apolipoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000209:etiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D017270:Lipoprotein(a) / Q000097:blood; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta
D001053:Apolipoproteins; D017270:Lipoprotein(a); D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta