P183	Apolipoprotein E genotype in the Romanian population - association with risk factors for obesity.
1C.Catana-Negreanu, 1L.Toma, 1R.Albu, 2C.Glavce, 3M.Vladica, 1A.Sima
1Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology "Nicolae Simionescu", Bucharest, RO; 2Anthropological Research Centre "Fr. Rainer", Bucharest, RO; 3Institute of Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases "N.C. Paulescu", Bucharest, RO.

Background. Data from the literature show that apoE polymorphism is an important determinant for diseases involving dyslipidemia, such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer disease. Aim. Our objective was to estimate the distribution of ApoE genotypes in the Romanian population by DNA analysis and to determine the association between apoE genotypes and obesity, characterised by body mass index (BMI), plasma levels of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and glycemia. Methods. The study included 323 subjects (control and obese), aged between 23 and 64 years,137 males/186 females. Subjects were divided by their BMI into 4 categories: normal (BMI<25), overweight (BMI 25-30), obese (BMI 30-40) and very obese (BMI>40). Plasma levels of TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C and glucose were determined with commercially available kits. ApoE genotypes were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, using DNA isolated from plasma leukocytes. Statistic analysis was performed using the SPSS 10.0 software for Windows. Results. The calculated Apo E genotypes frequencies are: E3/3 63%, E4/3 19.4%, E3/2 9.7%, E2/2 6%, and E4/4 and E2/2 0.9% each. A statistically significant increase in plasma TG, glucose, TC and a decrease in HDL-C was found in the obese subjects, when compared with the normal-weight ones. ApoE4/3 genotype has an increased frequency in the obese group and is significantly correlated with higher levels of TG and glucose. In contradistinction with E4/3 genotype, apoE3/2 genotype has a higher frequency in the control group. ApoE3/2 genotype seems to be correlated with normal levels of glucose, TC, LDL-C. Both E4/3 and E3/2 genotypes are associated with decreased levels of HDL-C, but E4/3 has a higher frequency in men, compared to women, while E3/2 is highly associated with female subjects. Conclusions. The presented data are in good agreement with those reported in other Caucasian population They show statistically significant differences between apoE genotypes in normal-weight and obese subjects, as well as correlations with dyslipidemia risk factors. Thus, ApoE polymorphism could be considered a major, independent risk factor, which determines important differences between normal and obese individuals. This is the first report on the frequency of the apoE genotypes in the Romanian population.

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