ApoC-III gene polymorphisms and risk of coronary artery disease

Several polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein C-III (apoC-III) gene have been associated with hypertriglyceridemia, but the link with coronary artery disease risk is still controversial. In particular, apoC-III promoter sequence variants in the insulin responsive element (IRE), constitutively resistant to downregulation by insulin, have never been investigated in this connection. We studied a total of 800 patients, 549 of whom had angiographically documented coronary atherosclerosis, whereas 251 had normal coronary arteriograms. We measured plasma lipids, insulin, apoA-I, apoB, and apoC-III and assessed three polymorphisms in the apoC-III gene, namely, T-455C in the IRE promoter region, C1100T in exon 3, and Sst1 polymorphic site (S1/S2) in the 3' untranslated region. Each variant influenced triglyceride levels, but only the T-455C (in homozygosity) and…