Association of apolipoprotein ɛ4 allele with hypertriglyceridemia in obesity

Abstract

Hypertriglyceridemia is the most frequent lipid abnormality associated with obesity. Genetic polymorphism of apolipoprotein E (apoE) has been demonstrated to influence lipid levels. We wanted to assess the role of apoE alleles in the hypertriglyceridemias of the obese population. The apoE phenotypes and lipid status were investigated in a population of 172 obese French subjects. The frequencies of phenotypes E4/3, E4/4 and E4/2 were 29.7%, 8.1% and 2.1%, respectively, in a subgroup with triglycerides .gtoreq.200 mg/dl (n = 37) versus 14.2%, 2.7% and 0.9% in the normolipidemic subgroup (p < 0.005). The odds ratio of hypertriglyceridemia was 3.15 for obese subjects with .epsilon.4; 27.7% of hypertriglyceridemias could be attributed to .epsilon.4 allele. It is concluded that the genetic polymorphism of apoE modulates the effects of obesity of lipids and lipoproteins and that allele .epsilon.4 increases the risk of obesity-induced hypertriglyceridemia.