THE EFFECTS OF THE CHOLESTEROL ESTER TRANSFER PROTEIN GENE AND ENVIRONMENTAL-FACTORS ON THE PLASMA HIGH-DENSITY-LIPOPROTEIN CHOLESTEROL LEVELS IN THE KOREAN POPULATION

The cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) is a plasma glycoprotein that transfers neutral lipids between plasma lipoproteins. The distri butions of variations in the CETP gene and their influences on lipid l evels were investigated among random members of the Korean population (n=270) whose profiles of environmental factors were known. The freque ncies of the major allele at BamHI, EcoNI, TaqIA, TaqIB, New HinfI RFL Ps, and the D442G mutation were 0.77, 0.55, 0.84, 0.62, 0.81, and 0.94 , in serial order. The significant associations of the BamHI RFLP and the D4426 mutation with the plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL) chol esterol levels were observed in this population. Subjects with geno-ty pe B2B2 of the BamHI RFLP had significantly lower HDL cholesterol leve ls than the mean of total subjects. Subjects with D4426 mutant allele had a significantly higher HDL cholesterol levels only in males. Analy sis of the covariance model (ANOCOVA) showed that allelic variations i n the BamHI RFLP and the D4426 mutation sites accounted independently for 4.0 and 5.9% of the total inter-individual variation in plasma HDL cholesterol in males (F=2.29, p=0.10; F=3.4, p=0.03). The effect of t he CETP genotype was very high (about 10%), compared to the total effe cts of sex, body mass index, age, and smoking habit (20%). In conclusi on, the genetic variation of the CETP gene is related to the regulatio n of plasma HDL cholesterol levels and the extent of the effect seems to be different between male and female in the Korean population.