Severity of coronary artery disease is significantly lowered among carriers of The allele 2 of the common apoE polymorphism

Abstract

Aims: Controversial results about the association between the common apolipoproteinE (apoE) polymorphism and the severity of coronary artery disease have been reported mainly because of the heterogeneous scoring systems used to evaluate the coronary damage. Our study aimed to evaluate the association between the common apoE polymorphism and the severity of coronary damage using the Gensini score. Methods: Our study involved 172 patients (63 women and 109 men) who benefited from a coronary angiography and a Gensini score. Serum lipid parameters were measured from samples collected before the coronary angiography and apoE genotyping was performed by PCR-RFLP. Patients were divided into tertiles according to their Gensini score. A backward stepwise logistic regression was performed and parameters were adjusted against lipid profile, gender, hypertension, diabetes and age. Results: Compared to the apoE3, the apoE2 seems to protect against having a Gensini score higher than1 with an odds ratio of 0.191 (IC[0.055-0.668],p=0.010). Compared to apoE4, it seems to protect against having a Gensini score higher than 33 with an odds ratio of 0.09 (IC[0.01- 0.79], p=0.012). After adjustment for confounding variables, the common apoE polymorphism remains significantly associated to the severity of the coronary damage. Conclusion: we came to the conclusion that apoE2 might be an independent protective factor against severe coronary artery disease.