APOLIPOPROTEIN-B-3' HYPERVARIABLE REPEAT GENOTYPE - ASSOCIATION WITH PLASMA-LIPID CONCENTRATION, CORONARY-ARTERY-DISEASE, AND OTHER RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-POLYMORPHISMS

Apolipoprotein B gene 3' variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) and rela ted regions were amplified by PCR and analyzed by agarose gel electrop horesis. Eighteen VNTR alleles (VNTR25, 26, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41 , 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 58, 60) and 45 genotypes were observed i n 477 Taiwanese subjects. The VNTR35 allele and genotype VNTR3 5/35 we re observed most frequently in this population. The polymorphism infor mation content was 0.62. Some minor alleles, such as VNTR25 and 60, we re found only in coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke patients in our sampling, and no statistically significant difference was observed in VNTR allelic frequency between control and CAD or stroke patients. Significant differences in allelic distribution of some VNTR alleles were observed between our normal Taiwanese population and a Caucasian group studied by others. VNTR43-47 and AluI(+) (coding Ala(591)) restr iction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) as well as VNTR49-60 and Er oRI(-) (coding Lys(4154)) RFLP were found to be highly coinherited. No apparent association between the VNTR genotype and plasma lipid conce ntration was observed; however, for the same genotype, the CAD and str oke patients frequently showed higher lipoprotein(a) and lower HDL cho lesterol concentrations than the control group.