Relationship between the distribution of plasma HDL subclasses and the polymorphisms of APOA5 in hypertriglyceridemia

• APOA5-1131T > C polymorphism might influence the levels of plasma apoA5.
• Concentration of apoA5 may be associated with the distribution of HDL subclasses.
• APOA5-1131T > C polymorphism may be associated with the distribution of HDL subclasses.
• APOA5-1131T > C polymorphism may be a susceptible gene to cause hypertriglyceridemia.

AimsThis study aims to examine the possible associations between high density lipoprotein (HDL) subclass distribution and APOA5-1131T > C polymorphism in hypertriglyceridemia.MethodsThe distribution of HDL subclasses was quantified by 2-dimensional electrophoresis in conjunction with immunodetection method. The APOA5-1131T > C polymorphism was identified in 95 hypertriglyceridemic (HTG) patients and 102 healthy subjects by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).ResultsThe APOA5-1131C (C) allele frequency was higher in the HTG group than in the control group. Plasma triglycerides (TG) were significantly higher and apoA5 was significantly lower in patients with the C allele when compared to patients with the APOA5-1131T (T) allele, even more dramatically so in the APOA5-1131CC homozygote. In both the HTG group and the control group, the frequency of the C allele was positively correlated with levels of TG, total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and apolipoprotein B100 (apoB100), and negatively correlated with levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1) and apolipoprotein A5 (apoA5) (P < 0.001). In all subjects, the frequency of the C allele was positively correlated with the level of small-sized HDL (preβ1-HDL and HDL3a), and negatively correlated with levels of HDL2a and HDL2b.ConclusionChanges in HDL subclass distributions in HTG may be related to the APOA5-1131T > C polymorphism. This polymorphism leads to a general shift towards smaller-sized HDL.