Influence of apolipoprotein E genotypes on serum lipid parameters in a biracial sample of children

The goals of this study were to compare the allelic distribution of the apo lipoprotein E(apoE) gene in Hungarian and Hungarian Gypsy children and to e xamine the impact of apoE polymorphism on quantitative levels of lipids in the two racial groups. Our data yielded calculated allele frequencies of 6. 4% and 8.9% for apoE; 83.8% and 73.8% for apoE3; and 9.8% and 17.3% for apo E4 in Hungarian and in Gypsy children, respectively. The frequency of the a poE4 allele was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in Gypsy children than in H ungarians. The effect of apoE genotypes on serum lipid parameters differed considerably in the two racial groups. In the Gypsy group the lowest total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycer ide levels were in the E3/E3 group and these values differed significantly (P < 0.0001 for TC and LDL-C and P < 0.01 for triglyceride) from the values in the E2/E3 and E3/E4 groups. There were no significant differences in TC , LDL-C and triglyceride levels between E2/E3 and E3/E4 groups. The high-de nsity lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels did not differ significantly a mong the genotype groups. In Hungarian children, the apoE2/3 group displaye d lower, the E3/4 group higher, values of TC and LDL-C than in the E3/3 gro up, but the differences were not significant (P > 0.05). HDL-C and triglyce ride values did not differ among the genotype groups. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that the apolipoprotein E allele frequen cies differ between Hungarian and Gypsy children and suggest that these all eles influence the serum lipid levels, but other genetic and environmental factors can considerably change this effect.