ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Apo E lipoprotein is made up of 299 amino acid and is classified into three major isoforms(E2, E3 and E4). Aop E lipoprotein plays an important role in the regulation of the lipid metabolism. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the variations of plasma lipids depending on the apo E genotype in the Korean males. METHODS: We studied 257 male subjects without evidence of coronary artery disease. Apo E genotyping was determined with the INNO-line probe assay apo E test, which is based on reverse hybridization. RESULTS: Apo E genotype frequencies for 257 subjects were as follows, 73.9% for epsilon3/3, 16% for epsilon4/3, 8.2% for epsilon3/2, 1.2% for epsilon2/2, and 0.8 for epsilon4/4. We found significant differences in apo E allele frequencies of our subjects campared with those of western populations. Compared to the subjects with apo epsilon3, the subjects with apo epsilon2 was associated with higher levels of triglyceride, and the subjects with apo epsilon4 had lower levels of HDL cholesterol. CONCLUSION: The frequencies of apeE genotype varies depending on the ethnic origin. ApoE polymorphism plays an important role in determining individual differences in plasma lipids.