[Study on relationship between polymorphism of apolipoprotein E gene and syndromes of phlegm and blood stasis in patients with coronary heart disease].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between polymorphism of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) exon 4 gene and different syndromes in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).

METHODS: Two hundred patients with CHD were divided into four groups according to syndrome differentiation, including syndrome of phlegm (PS), syndrome of blood stasis (BSS), syndrome of phlegm-blood stasis blocking (PBBS) and syndrome of non-phlegm and non-blood stasis (NPNBS). One hundred healthy volunteers were included in control group. Blood lipids were measured by routine examination. Total DNA of peripheral blood was extracted. ApoE genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. All data were analyzed by SAS software.

RESULTS: (1)The occurrence rate of epsilon4 allele of ApoE in patients with CHD was 19.5%, significantly higher than 9.5% in the control group (P<0.05), and the E 3/4 genotype was especially more frequent (P<0.01). (2) The levels of total cholesterol (TC), total triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in patients with epsilon4 were higher than those in patients without epsilon4 (P<0.01). (3) The frequencies of epsilon4 allele and E3/4 genotype in patients with PS were significantly higher than those in patients with BSS (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: ApoE epsilon4 allele, especially E3/4 genotype, is the risk factor of CHD. There is a relatively close relationship between patients with ApoE epsilon4 allele and PS. It may be one of the main susceptible genes in CHD patients with PS.