Polymorphisms of apolipoprotein e and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase in the Japanese population.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of apolipoprotein E (apo E) and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphisms on serum lipid and homocysteine levels in the general Japanese population.


METHODS
We analyzed the polymorphisms in individuals randomly selected from among participants of Serum Lipid Survey 2000.


RESULTS
The frequency of the epsilon2, epsilon3, and epsilon4 alleles of APOE was 4.2, 85.3, and 10.5%, respectively. Individuals with the genotype epsilon4/epsilon4 had the highest total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, while those with epsilon2/epsilon2 had the lowest. Individuals with the epsilon2/epsilon2 and epsilon2/epsilon4 genotypes had higher remnant-like particles (RLP)-cholesterol levels than those with epsilon2epsilon3, epsilon3epsilon3, and epsilon3epsilon4. There was a trend for individuals with the epsilon2/epsilon4 and epsilon2/epsilon2 genotypes to have higher triglyceride levels, although the difference was not significant. The presence of the T allele in a MTHFR polymorphism (C667T) was associated with higher homocysteine levels, which is more prominent in men than in women.


CONCLUSIONS
Thus in our large-scale analysis we have shown that RLP-cholesterol is better associated with, APOE genotype than triglyceride and the effect of the T allele on MTHFR polymorphism (C667T) homocysteine levels is more prominent in men than in women among Japanese.
Arai
Hidenori
H
Department of Geriatric Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan. harai@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Yamamoto
Akira
A
Matsuzawa
Yuji
Y
Saito
Yasushi
Y
Yamada
Nobuhiro
N
Oikawa
Shinichi
S
Mabuchi
Hiroshi
H
Teramoto
Tamio
T
Sasaki
Jun
J
Nakaya
Noriaki
N
Itakura
Hiroshige
H
Ishikawa
Yuichi
Y
Ouchi
Yasuyoshi
Y
Horibe
Hiroshi
H
Egashira
Tohru
T
Hattori
Hiroaki
H
Kita
Toru
T
D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics*; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D005838:Genotype; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D020138:Hyperhomocysteinemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D042965:Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (NADPH2) / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017678:Sex Distribution
D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D008055:Lipids; D006710:Homocysteine; D042965:Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (NADPH2)