Key result
The apo epsilon2 allele was significantly less frequent in Greek patients with ischemic vascular events compared to those with coronary artery disease without such events (1.2% vs 6.2%, p=0.001).
Why the study?
Is apolipoprotein E polymorphism associated with the risk of ischemic vascular events in Greek patients with cardiovascular disease?
Case-Control (n=570)
Is apolipoprotein E polymorphism associated with the risk of ischemic vascular events in Greek patients with cardiovascular disease?
Absolute Event Rate: 1.2% vs 6.2%
p-value: p=0.001
In a Greek population, the apo epsilon2 allele is inversely associated with ischemic vascular events, highlighting the importance of population-specific genetic risk profiling.
ApoE ε4 testing adds no value to IVE risk assessment in Greek CVD patients; challenges extrapolation of ε4 associations from other populations.
The authors investigated whether apolipoprotein (apo) E polymorphism has an allelic and/or genotypic impact on the risk of an ischemic vascular event (IVE) in Greek patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). They compared apo E polymorphisms in 1) a group of 165 patients with IVE [IVE(+)], of whom 107 had survived a myocardial infarction and 58 an ischemic stroke; 2) a group of 165 patients, matched with the first group for age and gender, with angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease but without IVE [IVE(-)]; 3) a group of 240 healthy younger individuals with no family history of CVD. The apo epsilon2 allele was 5.2-fold less frequent in the IVE(+) group compared to the IVE(-) group (1.2% vs 6.2%, p = 0.001). The frequency of the epsilon2 allele in healthy subjects was 8.1%, which is 6.7-fold higher than in the IVE(+) group (p < 0.001), and more than twice as high compared to all CVD patients (p = 0.001). No significant differences in epsilon4 allele frequencies were observed between IVE(+) and IVE(-) patients (9.8% vs 8.4%) or between patients with CVD and healthy subjects (9.1% vs 10.2%). The epsilon4 allele was not associated with an increased risk for CVD or IVE. In contrast, an inverse and beneficial association of the epsilon2 allele with IVE was observed among Greek patients with CVD. These results suggest that the epsilon4 and epsilon2 alleles have a variable significance in terms of predicting the risk of vascular events in different populations. Therefore, it is important to carry out "local" studies.
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Kolovou et al. (2003) conducted a case-control in Ischemic vascular events and cardiovascular disease (n=570). Apolipoprotein E epsilon2 and epsilon4 alleles vs. Patients without ischemic vascular events or healthy controls was evaluated on Frequency of the apo epsilon2 allele in IVE(+) vs IVE(-) patients (p=0.001). The apo epsilon2 allele was significantly less frequent in Greek patients with ischemic vascular events compared to those with coronary artery disease without such events (1.2% vs 6.2%, p=0.001).
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