Effects of Apolipoprotein e isoforms in diabetic nephropathy of Chinese type 2 diabetic patients

Diabetic nephropathy (dn) is one of the major chronic complications of diabetes. genetic polymorphism of apolipoprotein e (apoe) has been proposed to participating in dn. the purpose of the study was to evaluate the relationship between apoe genetic polymorphism and the presence of dn in chinese type 2 diabetic patients. we studied 845 diabetic patients who were divided into dn group (n = 429) and control group (n = 416). apoe genotype was determined by apoe genotyping chip and the plasmatic biochemical characterization was performed on all subjects. there were differences (p < 0.001) in hba1c,creatinine,and urinary albumin between the two groups. the apoe ∈2 allelic frequency was 7.69% in dn group versus 3.49% in control group (or = 2.22,95% ci = 1.41-3.47,and p < 0.05),as expected,apoe e2/e2 and e2/e3 genotype frequency were higher in dn group (13.75% versus 6.49%,p < 0.05). the apoe ∈4 allelic frequency was 7.93% in dn group versus 11.54% in control group (or = 0.70,95% ci = 0.50-0.97,and p < 0.05),and dn group presented a lower frequency of apoe e3/e4 and e4/e4 genotype frequency (14.91% versus 19.96%,p < 0.05). these results suggest apoe ∈2 allele may be a risk factor; however apoe ∈4 allele may play a protective role of dn in chinese type 2 diabetic patients. copyright © 2017 yongwei jiang et al.