The effects of apolipoprotein E polymorphism on the distribution of lipids and lipoproteins in the Chinese population.

The effects of apolipoprotein E (apo E) polymorphism on the distribution of serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were studied in 546 unrelated Chinese in Taiwan. By isoelectric focusing and immunoblotting, three common alleles were demonstrated. The frequencies of the epsilon 2, epsilon 3 and epsilon 4 alleles were 0.076, 0.875 and 0.049, respectively. The relative frequency of the epsilon 3 allele was higher than that in Caucasians, whereas the frequency of epsilon 4 was lower in the Chinese population. Individuals with apo E4/4 phenotype had the highest serum TC and LDL-C concentrations, while the lowest levels were associated with apo E2/2 phenotype. There was a trend for individuals carrying the epsilon 2 allele to have a higher HDL-C level. No relationship between apo E phenotype and TG level was observed in this study. These data indicated that a given apo E allele acted in a relatively similar way in determining individual differences between Chinese and Caucasian populations in serum lipid and lipoprotein.