Study on apolipoprotein E genotypes in Han people in China

To identify ApoE genotypes by multi-AMRS PCR and PCR-RLFP respectively, and establish a fast, reliable and practical method for ApoE genotyping, ApoE genotypes of 476 health persons were identified by multi-AMRS PCR and 221 were tested by PCR-RFLP, meanwhile 78 randomly selected were detected both by the two methods. By multi-AMRS PCR, the prevalence of genotype &epsilon3/3, 3/2, 4/3, 4/2, 4/4 and 2/2 were 72.9%, 11.8%, 12.0%, 0.8%, 1.3% and 1.3% respectively. The allelic frequencies were 7.6%, 84.8% and 7.7% for &epsilon2,3 and 4 respectively. Using PCR-RFLP method, the prevalence was 67.9%, 14.9%, 13.6%, 2.3%, 0.9% and 0.5% respectively. The allelic frequencies were 9.0%, 82.1% and 8.8% respectively. There was no significant difference between two groups (x&sup2=5.576, P>0.25). ApoE genotype and allelic frequencies identified by multi-AMRS PCR and PCR-RFLP in 78 persons were &epsilon2/2(1.8%,2.6%), 3/2(11.0%,12.8%), 4/2(1.2%,1.3%), 3/3(72.4%,71.7%), 4/3(11.7%,9.0%), 4/4(1.9%,2.6%) and &epsilon2(8.0%,9.6%), 3(83.7%,82.7%), 4(8.3%,7.7%) respectively. The two methods were significantly correlated (x&sup2=372.248, P<0.0001). Andmulti-AMRS PCR is a simple and reliable assay of identifying ApoE genotypes and can easily be implemented into a minimally equipped laboratory.