Effect of Apolipoprotein E genotypes on incidence and development of coronary stenosis in Iranian patients with coronary artery disease

Background: Apolipoprotein (apo) E polymorphism plays a significant role in the development of coronary disease, but their involvement in coronary artery stenosis (CAS) is controversial. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of this polymorphism on atherosclerosis, and severity and extent of CAS in unrelated Iranian population. Methods: DNA was isolated from 390 study participants and APOE genotypes were determined utilizing the polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. Results: The APOE-ε4 and -ε2 allele frequencies were significantly higher in the CAS patients than in the control group (P<0.05). The association of Apo E polymorphism with the severity of stenosis was evaluated, which is according to the result that apolipoprotein E alleles were not significantly different when compared with the severity of stenosis (�2=0.84, P>0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that APOE-ε4 is a risk factor for stenosis but does not has any effect on the severity of this disease. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc