Association of polymorphism in the promoter region of the apolipoprotein Egene with diastolic blood pressure in normotensive Japanese

The epsilon 4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE) is reported to be a genetic risk factor of atherosclerosis through hyperlipidemia and late-onset Alzhe imer's dementia, A recent report showed that a genetic variant(A -491T) in the promoter region of the APOE gene increases the risk of Alzheimer's dise ase. In the present study, we examined whether these APOE polymorphisms wer e genetically involved in essential hypertension. Japanese hypertensives (n =180) with a family history of hypertension and normotensive controls (n =1 95, sex and age matched with hypertensives) were recruited from the outpati ents of Osaka University Hospital, and an informed consent to participate i n the study was obtained from each person. APOE polymorphisms were determin ed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The frequencies of the A -491 allele in hypertensives and norm otensives were 0.98 and 0.97, respectively, and the TT/-491 genotype was no t found in either group. No significant differences between hypertensives a nd normotensives were observed in allele frequencies in either APOE polymor phism; however, the mean diastolic blood pressure in normotensive subjects with AA/-491 was significantly higher than in the subjects with AT/-491 (p< 0.01), These results suggest that the presence of the APOE promoter polymor phism is not a major risk factor for hypertension but that it does have som e minor effect on basal blood pressure variation.