Atherosclerosis 142 (1999) 409 – 414 The apolipoprotein E4 allele is not associated with an abnormal lipid proﬁle in a Native American population following its traditional lifestyle Carlos A. Aguilar a, *, Guadalupe Talavera c , Jose M. Ordovas b , Jorge A. Barriguete d , Luz E. Guille ´n a , Marta E. Leco c , Juan Pedro-Botet b , Jorge Gonzalez-Barranco a , Francisco J. Go ´ mez-Pe ´rez a , Juan A. Rull a a Departamento de Diabetes y Metabolismo de Lı ´pidos, Instituto Nacional de la Nutricio ´n, Vasco de Quiroga 15, Tlalpan, Mexico city 14000, Mexico b USDA, Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts Uniersity, Boston MA, USA c Clı ´nica de Diabetes, Hospital General IMSS Uruapan, Michoacan, Mexico d Clı ´nica de Trastornos de la Alimentacio ´n, Instituto Nacional de la Nutricio ´n, Mexico city 14000, Mexico Received 5 March 1998; received in revised form 27 July 1998; accepted 28 August 1998 Abstract The apolipoprotein E4 allele is associated in industrialized countries with an elevated LDL cholesterol concentration and an increased cardiovascular risk. Our purpose in this study was to assess the inﬂuence of the genetic variation at the APOE gene locus on the lipid proﬁle of a Native American rural population. We examined plasma lipid levels and the common apo E alleles in 142 healthy randomly selected adults living in their native communities in western Me ´xico. Their age was 38 17 years and the BMI 25.7 4.5 kg/m 2 . Plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL C and HDL C were 165 29.6, 126 83, 98 26 and 42 12.7 mg/dl respectively. Ninety-one per cent of the subjects had Lp(a) concentrations below 20 mg/dl and 30% had levels lower than 2 mg/dl. The most common APOE genotype was E3/3 (63%), followed by E3/4 (30.1%). The prevalence of the E2 allele was very low (2.3%). No difference was observed in LDL C concentrations between the E3/E3 and E3/E4 subjects; however carriers of the E2/3 genotype had lower LDL C levels. Similar results were obtained for cholesterol and apo B levels. In summary, the increased LDL C levels associated with the E4 allele in previous studies were not observed in a population with non-westernized habits. Environmental factors, such as diet and lifestyle, could outweigh the hypercholesterolemic predisposition resulting from the presence of the apo E4 allele © 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Apolipoprotein E; Lipoprotein (a); Native Americans 1. Introduction Apolipoprotein E (apo E) is one of the ligands responsible for the elimination from plasma of the majority of the apolipoprotein B-containing lipo- proteins, except for the smaller, denser LDL subclasses [1]. Multiple alleles have been described, however, only three of them (E3, E4 and E2) are common in the general population and their frequencies vary signiﬁ- cantly among different races [2]. Genetic variation at the apo E locus has a signiﬁcant impact on the lipid proﬁle of majority of the populations studied [3,4] and on the expression of other lipid disorders [5–7]. More- over, apo E appears to modulate the lipid response to several therapeutical interventions including HMG CoA reductase inhibitors and diet [8 – 10]. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +52-5655-1076; fax: +52-5513- 0002; e-mail: caas@aztlan.innsz.mx. 0021-9150/99/$ - see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0021-9150(98)00251-2