...ApoE has three major isoforms: apoE2 (Cys 112, Cys 158), apoE3 (Cys 112, Arg 158), and ApoE4 (Arg 112, Arg 158), which are the products of three APOE alleles (*2, *3, and *4) at a single gene locus on chromosome 19q13.2 (Mahley and Rall 2000; Smith 2000). APOE gene polymorphism is associated with various disorders. APOE*4 is strongly correlated with dyslipidemia and coronary heart disease (Utermann 1987; Attila et al. 2001; Kharrazi et al. 2006). The APOE*4 allele also contributes to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease in different populations (Garry 2001; Raygani et al. 2005).

Allele and genotype frequencies of the APOE gene locus have been studied and reported for numerous populations (Mahley and Rall 2000; Smith 2000; Hallman et al. 1991; Gamboa et al. 2000; Hill and Pritchard 1990; Almawi et al. 1998; Dzimiri et al. 1999; Chun et al. 2001; Singh et al. 2002). The results obtained from these studies demonstrate that APOE allele distribution varies among various populations, and they emphasize the importance of geographic location and ethnic background on the frequencies of APOE polymorphism (Mahley and Rall 2000; Smith 2000; Hallman et al. 1991).

The reported frequency of the APOE*2 allele ranges from 0.027 in the Tehran population of Iran (Raygani et al. 2005) to 0.141 among New Guinean populations (Kamboh et al. 1989). The frequency of the APOE*3 allele was found to range from 0.553 in the Khoi San population, an aboriginal tribe of Africa (Sandholzer et al. 1995), to 0.921 and 0.926 in the Indian male population from the subcontinent (Venkataramana et al. 2001) and in the Kermanshah population in western Iran (Kharrazi et al. 2006), respectively. The lowest frequency of APOE*4 (0.033) was found in the Kermanshah population (Kharrazi et al. 2006), and the highest frequency (0.371) was found among New Guineans from Oceania (Kamboh et al. 1989) and Khoi San from Africa (Sandholzer et al. 1995). However, no frequencies of APOE genotypes have ever been reported for the Kurdish population in Kermanshah, Iran.

Kharrazi et al. (2006) and other investigators (Attila et al. 2001) have also found a correlation between the frequency of the APOE*2 and APOE*4 alleles and the increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) in Iran and in southern Turkey, respectively. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the allele and genotype frequencies of APOE in the Kurdish population of Kermanshah, Iran, to provide a baseline comparison for future studies on APOE genotype frequencies and to find its association with diseases such as CAD, Alzheimer disease, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes in this minority population.

Materials and Methods

Blood samples were obtained from 914 healthy Kurds (514 men and 400 women, mean age 34 [+ or -] 15.3 years) randomly selected from different areas of the Kermanshah province of Iran. Ethical approval for this investigation was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. Written informed consent was obtained from each subject before collecting blood samples.

DNA Analysis. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes (Johan et al. 1991). APOE polymorphism was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), as previously described (Wenham et al. 1991). The DNA was amplified using the forward primer 5'-TCCAAGGAGCTGCAGGCGGCGCA-3'and the reverse primer 5'-ACAGAATCCGCCCCGGCCTGGTACACTGCCA-3'. The PCR products (227 bp) were digested with CfoI restriction endonuclease (24 units; Roche, Mannheim,...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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