Original article
Association between apolipoprotein E polymorphism, lipids, and coronary artery disease in Tunisian type 2 diabetes

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacl.2008.08.441Get rights and content

Background

The relationship between apolipoprotein E (ApoE) polymorphism, fasting lipid parameters, and coronary artery disease (CAD) is controversial.

Methods

We studied this relationship, for the first time, in Tunisian type 2 diabetic patients. The studied population comprised 157 type 2 diabetic patients (145 of them were not on any lipid-lowering drugs). Fasting lipids were measured by enzymatic methods and ApoE genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Results

Our results showed that the alleles E2, E3, and E4 were found in 4%, 88%, and 8% of patients, respectively. In the total type 2 diabetic population, no association was found between ApoE polymorphism, lipid parameters, and CAD. However, the E4 allele was associated with elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration and with CAD in type 2 diabetic men.

Conclusion

The effect of ApoE polymorphism on CAD is gender-dependent in the Tunisian type 2 diabetic population. ApoE 4 allele may enhance atherogenesis indirectly by a strong effect on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Section snippets

Background

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) plays a requisite role in endogenous lipoprotein metabolism and tissue distribution.1 It is a structural protein of chylomicrons, very-low-density lipoprotein, intermediate-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein, and serves as a ligand for the uptake of ApoE-containing lipoprotein by the hepatic ApoE receptor or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor. The ApoE gene is polymorphic with three common alleles, E2, E3, and E4 encoding for three different isoforms.

Subjects

One-hundred fifty-seven type 2 diabetic patients (71 with CAD) ranging in age from 40 to 65 years old were recruited at the Service of Internal Medicine and Service of Cardiology in the Teaching Hospital of Monastir, Tunisia. Written or verbal informed consents were obtained from all patients and controls before the study. All written informed consent was not possible because the majority of eligible subjects in our study were illiterate. Diagnosis of diabetes was based on a history of

Results

Type 2 diabetic participants were genotyped for the ApoE polymorphism. Frequency of E2, E3, and E4 alleles were 0.04, 0.88, and 0.08, respectively. The majority of participants were E3E3 homozygous (0.80), although the genotype E2E2 was absent and only one subject had the E4E2 genotype.

Genotypes were condensed into three groups: E2 carrier group (E2E3), E4 carrier group (E3E4 and E4E4), and homozygous group (E3E3). The E2E4 did not belong to any of the groups mentioned and was not considered in

Discussion

Frequencies of ApoE alleles vary from one population to another, but E3 was, usually, the most frequent allele and E2 was the less frequent one.2, 4, 19 Compared to a Tunisian control population,7 the allele frequencies of ApoE polymorphism in our type 2 diabetic population were almost the same (0.07 vs 0.04 for E2, 0.84 vs 0.88 for E3, and 0.08 vs 0.08 for E4, respectively, in control and in type 2 diabetic populations). In general, but not usually, similar associations of ApoE with

Conclusions

The ApoE4 allele is associated with high LDL cholesterol level and CAD in Tunisian type 2 diabetic men. The high frequency of CAD in E4 carrier men is associated with elevated LDL cholesterol concentration. We agree with many studies that have shown that ApoE polymorphism may enhance atherogenesis indirectly by a strong affect on circulating lipids. In addition, this present study strengthens findings that ApoE polymorphism can be used to identify individuals with high risk of CAD and suggest a

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur (DGRST) and the Ministère de la recherche Scientifique et Technologique (UR ‘Nutrition Humaine et désordres métaboliques.' We would like to thank Dr. A. Girard-Globa and M. H. Ben Farhat for their stimulating discussion and encouragement.

References (28)

Cited by (14)

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