Associations of allelic differences at the A-I/C-III/A-IV gene cluster with carotid artery intima-media thickness and plasma lipid transport in hypercholesterolemic-hypertriglyceridemic humans

Individuals with elevated levels of plasma cholesterol and triglyceride may be at higher risk for coronary artery disease than those with isolated elevations of either cholesterol or triglyceride. Sequence variation in the A-I/C-III/A-IV gene cluster has been implicated in the etiology of some disorders associated with premature atherosclerosis and/or hypertriglyceridemias with or without elevations of cholesterol. This led to. the hypothesis that allelic variation at this gene locus alters plasma lipid transport and affects susceptibility for atherosclerosis. The study population, from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, consisted of 50 normolipidemic individuals, 48 subjects with elevated plasma cholesterol, 47 subjects with elevated plasma triglyceride, and 123 subjects with both elevated plasma cholesterol and triglyceride who were used to evaluate associations between an Xmn I polymorphic site 2.5 kilobase pairs (kbp) upstream of the structural gene for apolipoprotein (apo) A-I, intimal-medial thickening of the extracranial carotid arteries, and several plasma lipid factors. The relative allele frequencies of the 8.3-kbp allele and the 6.6-kbp allele were .86 and .14, respectively, in the entire study population and did not differ among the lipid phenotypes. In the group with elevated plasma cholesterol and triglyceride, subjects possessing the 6.6-kbp allele exhibited a greater carotid artery intimal-medial thickness (P=.034) and higher plasma levels of apoA-I, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and HDL₃ cholesterol (P<.02) than subjects homozygous for the 8.3-kbp allele. In contrast, subjects with the 6.6-kbp allele displayed lower mean ratios of apolipoproteins C-II to C-III, C-II to A-IV, and E to A-IV in plasma (P<.05) and a lower mean ratio of apolipoprotein C-II to C-III in the triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (P=.026). Sequence variation in or near the genes encoding apolipoproteins A-I, C-III, and A-IV may therefore identify a group of hypercholesterolemic-hypertriglyceridemic persons who are at higher risk for atherosclerosis than others with the same lipopro-tein phenotype.