Apolipoprotein E genotyping and phenotyping in type II diabetes mellitus patients with hypertriglyceridemia

Objectives: We investigated the possible effect of apolipoprotein E (apo E) polymorphism on hyoertriglyceridemia in type II diabetes mellitus (DM) patients by both apo E genotyping and phenotyping methods. Design and Methods: Eighty Korean type II DM patients were evaluated. Restriction isotyping after DNA amplification was used for apo E genotyping. The isoelectric focusing of neuraminidase-treated sera followed by immunoblotting was used for apo E phenotyping. Results: The concordant rate between apo E genotyping and phenotyping was 96.3%. Apo E genotype frequencies for all 77 concordant cases were as follows: 72.7% for ε3/3; 16.9% for ε3/4; 7.8 for ε2/3; 1.3% for ε2/4, 1.3% for 4/4; and 0% for ε2/2. There wer no significant differences in apo E genotype frequencies between hypertriglyceridemic (n = 42) and normotriglyceridemic (n = 35) groups. Conclusions: Our findings could not support the association between apo E polymorphism and hypertriglyceridemia among type II DM patients