The objective of the present work was to study the genetic polymorphism of apo E and his effect on plasma lipids and lipoproteins levels in one cohort of 200 healthy adult individuals (20-65 years) resident in Bogotá D.C. The frequency of apo E gene alleles was 0.05 for e2; 0.87 for e3 and 0.08 for e4. The individuals were classified according to the ApoE genotype in: e3/2, e3/3, e4/3, e4/4 and e4/2. The genotype of greater frequency (77.1%) was e3/3. When comparing the cholesterol levels between the subjects E3/2, E3/3 and E4/3, significantly (p<0.05) increased levels were observed in the E4/3 group (172.1±16.9) compared with the E3/2 (148.7±32.1) group. The triglyceride levels showed a tendency towards higher levels in the group of individuals with apo E4/3 genotype compared to E3/3 and E3/2 groups. In these population studied, the ApoE polymorphism is an important genetic determinant of lipid and lipoprotein levels, the presence of e4 allele of ApoE gene determine increased levels of total cholesterol, cholesterol-LDL and triglycerides being these important risk factors for cardiovascular disease developpement.
keywords:
Polymorphisms, lipids, apolipoprotein E, cardiovascular disease.
