Articles |
From the Second Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Correspondence to Tatu A. Miettinen, MD, Second Department of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 4, FIN-00290 Helsinki, Finland.
| Abstract |
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2
allele, irrespective of their Xba I or Pvu II
genotypes; this was due to lower cholesterol absorption efficiency,
more effective cholesterol and bile acid synthesis, and more efficient
fractional catabolic rate in carriers of the
2 allele when compared
with the other genetic subgroups.
Key Words: apoprotein B apoprotein E cholesterol absorption cholesterol synthesis LDL kinetics
| Introduction |
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2 allele along with the
apoB X1 allele (absence of the polymorphic Xba I
restriction site in exon 26).17 18 In addition, the
presence of the intron 15 Pvu II restriction site of the
LDL receptor gene was shown to eliminate the cholesterol-elevating
effect of the
4 allele.19 20
It is known that the
4 allele is associated with a decreased LDL
receptor binding capacity in in vitro assays21 22 and with
a decreased fractional catabolic rate (FCR) for LDL apoB in vivo
compared with the
2 allele.23 24 In addition, the
subjects with the
4 allele have a markedly high intestinal
cholesterol absorption efficiency.25 However, nothing is
known about cholesterol metabolism in subjects with different apoB
Xba I and LDL receptor gene Pvu II
polymorphisms, alone or in combination with different apoE phenotypes.
Thus, to evaluate the variation of the different apoprotein gene loci
on cholesterol and LDL metabolism separately and in concert, we studied
the absorption efficiency, synthesis, and excretion of cholesterol and
the LDL apoB kinetics and related them to the apoB Xba I and
LDL receptor Pvu II restriction site polymorphisms and apoE
phenotypes in a healthy male population.
| Methods |
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2 or
4 alleles
detected in a cholesterol screening program among the personnel of two
large companies were recruited to the study. The mean weight, height,
and body mass index (BMI) of the study group are shown in Table 1
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Study Design
Calculation of the dietary constituents was based on a food
record that the subjects kept for 7 days.27 During this
week, they consumed a capsule containing
4-[14C]cholesterol, 22,23-[3H]sitosterol,
and 200 mg Cr2O3 three times a day with their
regular meals. At the end of this week, a 3-day stool collection was
performed for cholesterol absorption and fecal steroid measurements.
After stool collection, LDL turnover studies were performed, during
which serum lipids, lipoproteins, and LDL apoB were analyzed four times
from samples taken after a 12-hour fast.
Serum Lipids, Lipoproteins, and ApoB
Cholesterol and triglycerides were analyzed enzymatically
(Boehringer Diagnostica) and apoB immunoturbidimetrically (Orion
Diagnostica) with commercial kits. Lipoproteins were separated with
density gradient ultracentrifugation in fixed-angle rotors (Beckman)
into LDL and HDL as described in the Manual of Laboratory
Operations of the Lipid Research Clinics
Program.28
Cholesterol Absorption and Metabolism
Cholesterol absorption was measured by the peroral
double-isotope feeding method.29 Chromic oxide was
analyzed from the 3-day fecal specimens,30 and fecal
sterols were determined with gas-liquid chromatography using a
35-m-long SE-30 capillary column.31 32 33 Cholesterol
synthesis was calculated as the difference between fecal sterols
(neutral and acidic) and dietary cholesterol. The latter was quantified
from the dietary records.27
LDL ApoB Kinetics
Total LDL (1.019 to 1.063 g/mL) was separated from 50 mL of
fasted EDTA-plasma by serial preparative ultracentrifugations,
reultracentrifuged to remove contaminants, dialyzed extensively, and
iodinated with 125I by a modification of the
iodine-monochloride method.34 35 Three days before
injection of the autologous tracer, the subjects started to take
peroral potassium iodide. Approximately 1 mg of labeled LDL was mixed
with human serum albumin, filtered through a 0.22-µm Millipore
filter, and injected intravenously. The total amount of radioactivity
did not exceed 30 µCi.
After the injection, blood samples were collected for 14 days and counted for radioactivity. The die-away curves were constructed in whole plasma for 125I-LDL. The FCR for LDL was determined by a two-pool model.36 Transport rate (TR) was calculated by multiplying FCR by pool size, which was calculated to be 4.5% of body weight.
LDL kinetics were completed in 33 randomly selected subjects out of 52, who did not differ from the remaining subjects with respect to apoE, Xba I and Pvu II polymorphisms, lipid and lipoprotein profiles, or cholesterol absorption and metabolism.
ApoE phenotyping in serum samples was performed by isoelectric
focusing.37 Those either homozygous or heterozygous for
2 or
4 alleles were categorized as apoE2 or apoE4 phenotypes,
respectively, and those subjects homozygous for the
3 allele were
called apoE3.
DNA Analysis
DNA was isolated from frozen whole-blood samples with the
technique described by Bell et al.38 Determination of apoB
and LDL receptor gene polymorphisms was carried out with Southern blot
techniques described previously.8 39 The apoB allele
lacking the polymorphic Xba I restriction site in exon 26 is
designated as X1 and the allele with the restriction site
present as X2. The P+ allele denotes the
presence of the polymorphic Pvu II restriction site in
intron 15 of the LDL receptor gene while its P- counterpart
is the allele lacking this site.
Statistical Methods
Statistical significance was tested with two-tailed Student's
t test, and correlation coefficients were calculated with
the Pearson product-moment correlation or Spearman's rank correlation
test. The genetic variables were semiquantified as subscripts in the
analyses, ie, apoE2/2=1, E2/3=2, E2/4=3, E3/3=4, E4/3=5, E4/4=6,
Xba I X1X1=1, X1X2=2,
X2X2=3, P-P-=1,
P-P+=2, and P+P+=3,
respectively. One-way ANOVA was used to test the null hypothesis that
genotypic variance of apoE, apoB, and the LDL receptor gene was not
associated with lipid values, cholesterol absorption, and cholesterol
and LDL metabolism. Multiple stepwise regression analysis was used
to assess associations between LDL cholesterol (dependent variable) and
the genetic polymorphisms and cholesterol metabolic variables
(independent variables). The lipid values were adjusted for weight and
BMI, but because the differences were minor and did not change the
interpretation of results, the BMI-unadjusted values are given in the
tables. A value of P<.05 was considered statistically
significant.
| Results |
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2 allele (apoE2 group;
apoE2/2, E2/3, or E2/4), 54% had the apoE3/3 phenotype (apoE3 group),
and 31% had the apoE3/4 or apoE4/4 phenotype (apoE4 group),
respectively (Table 1
Body characteristics of the study population, lipid levels, and
metabolic aspects for separate genetic polymorphisms are shown in
Tables 1
and 2
. Weight, height, and BMI were similar in
the three apoE groups, but the serum total and LDL cholesterol and LDL
apoB levels were significantly lower in the apoE2 group than in the E3
and E4 subjects. The lower cholesterol absorption efficiency and higher
cholesterol and bile acid synthesis and FCR for LDL apoB in the apoE2
group (Table 2
) are consistent with previous results in smaller study
groups.23 25 40 The subscript of the apoE phenotypes was
significantly related to the serum levels of total (r=.347,
P<.05) and LDL (r=.452, P<.001)
cholesterol, LDL apoB (r=.395, P<.01) and
cholesterol absorption (r=.415, P<.01)
(Figure
) and negatively to FCR for LDL apoB
(r=-.660, P<.001). Thus, the low LDL
cholesterol and apoB levels in the apoE2 subjects were characterized by
low absorption and high fecal elimination and endogenous synthesis of
cholesterol and enhanced FCR for LDL apoB.
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Serum total and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels and cholesterol absorption and synthesis were similar in the three apoB Xba I groups even after adjustment for weight and BMI, but LDL apoB, TR for LDL apoB, and BMI were different. The subscript of the X polymorphism was positively related to serum HDL cholesterol level (r=.280, P<.05) even after BMI adjustment and to FCR for LDL apoB (r=.290, P<.05) and negatively to BMI (r=-.342, P<.01) and TR for LDL apoB (r=-.479, P<.001). Accordingly, the high FCR and low TR for LDL apoB allowed LDL cholesterol to increase only insignificantly from 2.9 mmol/L in X2X2 to 3.6 mmol/L in X1X1.
In the different LDL receptor Pvu II genotypes, the
triglyceride and HDL cholesterol levels were similar, also after BMI
adjustment, but total and LDL cholesterol, FCR for LDL apoB,
cholesterol absorption, and synthesis and bile acids were different
(Tables 1
and 2
) and were related to the subscript of the P
polymorphism (LDL cholesterol, r=.319, P<.05;
cholesterol absorption, r=.281, P<.05, Figure
).
Cholesterol absorption efficiency, the LDL cholesterol levels, and FCR
for LDL apoB were lowest in the P- group, while bile acid
and cholesterol synthesis were highest.
The combined effects of the apoB Xba I and apoE
polymorphisms, as well as LDL receptor Pvu II and apoE
polymorphisms, are shown in Table 3
. LDL cholesterol
levels were lowest in the apoE2/X2 and E2/P-
groups because of significantly higher FCR for LDL apoB, lower
cholesterol absorption efficiency (Figure
; E2/P-), and more
effective cholesterol synthesis in these subjects. In addition, the
presence of the P+ allele increased significantly the LDL
cholesterol level compared with its absence in the apoE3 subjects
without relation to cholesterol metabolism, perhaps because of low FCR
for LDL apoB. ApoE and Pvu II subscripts were not
significantly related. In the apoE4 subjects the presence of the
P+ allele did not significantly diminish the LDL cholesterol
level despite trends to increase both the removal and production of LDL
apoB.
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The combination of all three polymorphisms investigated revealed five
groups large enough for further analyses, although all groups were
X2 heterozygotes (Table 4
). The apoE2 group
had the lowest LDL cholesterol level due to low cholesterol absorption
efficiency, effective cholesterol synthesis, and high FCR for LDL apoB.
The E3/P- subjects had a lower LDL cholesterol level and
higher FCR for LDL apoB than the E3/P+ subjects as shown in
Table 3
, indicating that the presence of X2 had no effect on
the E3/P combination. In the E4 groups, X and
P did not influence the LDL cholesterol level despite a
markedly high TR for LDL apoB in the E4/X2/P+
group.
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With multiple stepwise regression analysis, the variability of LDL cholesterol (dependent variable) was assessed with the apoE, apoB Xba I and LDL receptor Pvu II polymorphisms, BMI, cholesterol absorption, and bile acid and cholesterol synthesis (independent variables). In this model (all variables present in 35 cases), the apoE variation explained 47.0% (R2) of the variability of the LDL cholesterol concentration (F=29.27, P<.001); the corresponding estimates for bile acid synthesis were 11.3% (F=8.72, P<.01) and for the LDL receptor Pvu II restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) 7.1% (F=6.4, P<.05), while Xba I was noncontributory. When the three genetic parameters were included into the model as the only independent variables, 32.7% (P<.001) of the LDL cholesterol variation could be explained with this model.
| Discussion |
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The presence of the apoB Xba I X1 allele was associated with short stature, high BMI, and low HDL cholesterol level, ie, risk factors for coronary artery disease.41 42 In fact, the X1 allele has been suggested to be more frequent in patients with coronary artery disease than in control subjects,13 14 15 but mechanisms inducing obesity43 and atheromatosis are unknown. ApoB Xba I polymorphism results from a single nucleotide change at codon 2488; this substitution is neutral in nature; ie, no amino acid alteration is occurring in apoB.44 It is currently not known whether this RFLP is in linkage disequilibrium with another DNA alteration, which is more important in apoB function. In the present study, FCR for LDL apoB was only slightly increased with the increasing subscript of X (r=.290, P<.05), which is different from some45 46 but not all47 previous studies.
The increase of the LDL cholesterol level in the P+ subjects
can actually be related to the slightly increased cholesterol
absorption efficiency and decreased removal of LDL apoB so that
corresponding synthesis of cholesterol and bile acids were low.
Previous studies have shown that the P allele may explain
approximately 3% to 10% of the population variance in the serum
cholesterol level,10 11 12 a finding roughly similar to 7%
for the LDL cholesterol concentration in the present series. It has
been suggested that the P+ allele may eliminate the
cholesterol-elevating effect of the
4 allele.19 20 This
observation could not be confirmed in the present study with almost
identical data for the level of LDL cholesterol and absorption and
metabolism of cholesterol and kinetics of LDL apoB in the
E4/P+ and E4/P- groups or E4/X2/P+
and E4/X2/P- groups.
The explanatory power of the apoE polymorphism on LDL cholesterol
variation, 47.0% according to the multiple stepwise regression
analysis, was even higher than in previous studies.1 2 3
There are two caveats, however, that should be kept in mind when the
present data are interpreted. First, this study group was based on
volunteers of a population-based, random male age cohort enriched for
2 and
4 subjects. Thus, the frequencies of the
2,
3, and
4 alleles in the present cohort (0.125, 0.547, and 0.328,
respectively) differed from those of the random Finnish population
(0.041, 0.733, and 0.227, respectively).48 In contrast,
the frequencies of the X1 and X2 alleles (0.55
and 0.45, respectively) and the P- and P+
alleles (0.76 and 0.24, respectively) did not significantly differ from
those in random Finnish population samples.8 39 It is
possible that the relative enrichment of this cohort for the
2 and
4 alleles may have accentuated the contribution of the apoE gene
locus on LDL cholesterol variation. This may also explain why we were
not able to confirm previously reported associations between the
X2 allele, or the P- allele, and elevated serum
LDL.3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Second, relatively small groups of volunteers
were subjected to comparison when combined genotypes were
investigated.
The explanatory power of a combination of several genetic parameters has not been studied earlier. Additional studies of the present data showed that a combination exclusively of the three assessed genetic parameters could alone explain one third of the LDL cholesterol variation, and the other metabolic parameters (cholesterol absorption, synthesis of cholesterol and bile acids, and LDL apoB kinetics), regulating the LDL cholesterol variation, were principally related to apoE genetic polymorphism. It remains open, however, by which mechanisms apoE genotypes affect cholesterol absorption efficiency. In addition, the latter factor, a significant regulator of serum cholesterol level, may modify the LDL cholesterol responses, for example, to cholesterol feeding or hypocholesterolemic treatments with drugs causing cholesterol malabsorption, especially when different genetic polymorphisms are considered.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received June 16, 1994; accepted November 9, 1994.
| References |
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