title: Apolipoprotein E polymorphism and lipoprotein levels in a Gulf Arab population in Kuwait: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  APOE polymorphism is believed to confer susceptibility to coronary heart disease (CHD) and Alzheimer's disease. It is well known that patterns of APOE polymorphisms differ between populations and ethnic groups, although most of the data available so far have been in whites.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated the frequencies of APOE genotypes and their relationships with serum levels of lipids, lipoproteins and apolipoproteins in two groups of Gulf Arab citizens: a control population of healthy voluntary blood donors (n=106), and a group of patients presenting to the lipid clinic for the first time with combined hyperlipidaemia (CH) (n=41). In both groups, fasting serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), HDL, LDL and apolipoprotein A1 and B levels were measured by routine autoanalyzer methods, and APOE genotyping was performed by validated PCR methods. The lipid and lipoprotein levels were related to the specific APOE allele frequencies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Allele frequencies were 5.7% for *E2, 85.4% for *E3, and 9.0% for *E4 in the healthy blood donor group. An essentially similar pattern was seen in the patients with CH. This APOE allelic distribution conforms to patterns described in Chinese, whites and South Asians. In both the blood donor and CH groups there were no consistent links between specific APOE pattern and serum lipoproteins, as would have been predicted from APO *E2 and APO *E4 frequencies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that APOE allelic patterns in healthy Kuwaiti blood donors and a smaller group of patients with CH do not satisfactorily predict circulating blood levels of lipids and lipoproteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait. suhail@hsc.kuniv.edu.kw
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Shammari
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fatania
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Al-Radwan
authors.forename: A O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Akanji
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D018912:Arabs / Q000235:genetics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000097:blood / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics*; D007730:Kuwait / Q000453:epidemiology; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D008074:Lipoproteins