Lack of Correlation between DNA Polymorphisms of the ApoB Gene and Plasma Lipid Levels in Korean Population

To assess whether particular alleles of apolipoprotein B (apoB) gene affect cholesterol metabolism in Korean population, we have studied the possible association of 8 polymorphic sites in the apoB gene with plasma lipid levels. Eight of the specific DNA regions, including 7 diallelic sites and one 3′-VNTR locus, were amplified by PCR on 86 subjects. All of the 6 sites except for XbaI and MspI were polymorphic in the sample. The allele frequency of distributions at all these sites was found to be different from other populations reported so far, and the 3′-VNTR locus was unimodal. The genotype frequencies of Ins/Del and 5 RFLP sites, excluding HincII RFLP and 3′-VNTR sites, were in a Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Haplotype was constructed by 5 diallelic sites and classified into 6 different types. Pairwise estimation of linkage disequilibrium showed no allelic associations except for AluI and PvuII sites. There were no statistically significant associations (P<0.05) between 5 polymorphic sites or haplotypes of the apoB gene and plasma lipid levels.