Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: High sensitive CRP (hsCRP) has been reported to associate with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. There is some evidence on apoE polymorphism in relation to the parameters of inflammation. We have investigated the association between APOE genotypes and hsCRP levels in an Iranian population.

Materials and methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 966 subjects (419 men and 547 women) from the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. hsCRP level were determined and a segment of the Apo E gene was amplified by PCR and the polymorphism revealed by RFLP using HhaI restriction enzyme.

Results: The presence of the ε4 allele was significantly associated with decreased serum CRP levels after logarithmic transformation of CRP level. Increase of the CRP level was associated with increase of some risk factors of the cardiovascular disease including age, hypertension, obesity and lipid profile.

Conclusion: The previous reports about the association between hsCRP level and apoE polymorphism tested in our population and the relationship between the presence of the E4 and the decrease of the hsCRP was confirmed. However the pattern of the association is in contrast to what one might have expected, since it is the E4 allele that is most strongly associated with cardiovascular disease.