Apolipoprotein E serum concentration and polymorphism in six European countries: the ApoEurope Project

As part of the ApoEurope Project, the apolipoprotein E (apo E) serum concen tration and polymorphism were determined in 6934 healthy subjects aged 25-6 4 years recruited in six European countries: Finland; France; Greece; North ern Ireland; Portugal and Spain. Age and sex influenced apo E concentration with concentrations being significantly higher in men than in women for th ose aged between 25 and 44 years. The age effect differed between the sexes after the age of 44 years, displaying a linear increase in women and a pla teau in men. As expected, the serum apo E concentration was highest in epsi lon 2 carriers and lowest in epsilon 4 carriers in each country with a sign ificantly higher frequency of the epsilon 4 allele in the northern regions. The main finding of this study was a clear increasing North-South gradient in serum apo E concentration independent of age, sex and apo E genotype. I n subjects aged < 45 years and with the epsilon 3/epsilon 3 genotype, apo E concentration was higher in the South-East (Greece) as compared to the Nor th by 20% for men and 32% for women. In addition to the genetic polymorphis m, the geographical area is an important factor to take into account when s tudying serum apo E concentration in multicentre studies and defining refer ence values. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.