An Association Study of Apolipoprotein E Gene Polymorphism and Cataracts

Mijung Chi; Jung Soo Im; Hae Jung Paik

doi:10.3341/JKOS.2011.52.4.420

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Chi, Im, and Paik: An Association Study of Apolipoprotein E Gene Polymorphism and Cataracts

Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2011;52(4):420-428.

Published online: 6 September 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/JKOS.2011.52.4.420

An Association Study of Apolipoprotein E Gene Polymorphism and Cataracts

Mijung Chi, MD, PhD¹, Jung Soo Im, MD, PhD², Hae Jung Paik, MD, PhD¹

¹Department of Ophthalmology, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Incheon, Korea

²Department of Preventive Medicine, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Incheon, Korea

Address reprint requests to Hye Jung Paik, MD, PhD Department of Ophthalmology Gachon University Gil Hospital, #1198 Guwol 1-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760, Korea Tel: 82-32-460-3364, Fax: 82-32-460-3358, E-mail: hjpaik@gilhospital.com

Received 29 June 201010 September 2010 Accepted 17 February 2011

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the association of apolipoprotein E (APOE) polymorphism and cataracts in the Korean population.

Methods

The present research included participants from a population-based study in Incheon, Korea. A sample of 126 adults genotyped for polymorphisms of APOE underwent a medical interview, an eye examination which included visual acuity testing, slitlamp cataract evaluation and fundus examination. The APOE polymorphism was determined using a pol-ymerase chain reaction method.

Results

Eighty-eight participants (69.8%) were diagnosed with cataracts or had undergone cataract surgery in 1 or both eyes, and 38 participants (30.2%) demonstrated no signs of cataract. The frequencies of the APOE genotypes and alleles were not significantly different from the cataract and the control group. APOE ε2 carriers were less likely to have cataracts than non-ε2 carriers with an odds ratio of 0.367 which was almost statistically significant with the multiple logistic regression analysis (p = 0.052).

Conclusions

There was no significant correlation of APOE genotype and cataracts. However, a slight negative association of APOE ε2 and cataracts were found in the Korean population.

Keywords: Apolipoprotein E, Cataract, Gene polymorphism

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Figure 1.

Distribution of APOE polymorphism in control and cataract group (χ² test, p value = 0.174).

Figure 2.

Distribution of APOE polymorphism in cataract subgroups (χ² test, p value = 0.615).

Figure 3.

Allele frequency of APOE polymorphism in control and cataract group (χ² test). ^* Statistically significant.

Figure 4.

APOE allele in cataract subgroups (χ² test, p -value = 0.401, 0.727, 0.269).

Figure 5.

Mean total cholesterol (A), triglyceride (B), HDL-cholesterol (C) in groups according to apolipoprotein E allele (t-test). ^* Statistically significant.

Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of the subjects

Variables	Cataract (n = 88)	Control (n = 38)
Mean age (mean ± SD, yr)^*	66.32 ± 9.85	49.63 ± 11.81
Male/Female (n)	22/66	5/33
Ocular trauma history (n)	5	1
Smoking (%)	19.3	10.5
Alcohol drinking (%)	20.5	21.1
Hypertension (%)^*	43.2	21.1
Diabetes mellitus (%)	19.3	13.2
Serum lipid
Total cholesterol (mean ± SD, mg/dl)^*	206.75 ± 34.24	183.79 ± 36.89
Triglyceride (mean ± SD, mg/dl)	144.51 ± 153.02	98.66 ± 53.49
HDL-cholesterol (mean ± SD, mg/dl)	48.55 ± 12.31	51.63 ± 14.09

^* Statistically significant (p<0.05) with χ² test.

Table 2.

Multiple logistic regression for cataract

Variable		Odds ratio (95% CI^*)	p-value
Age		1.15 (1.08-1.22)	<0.001
Sex	Female/Male	1.27 (0.33-4.89)	0.733
Diabetes	Yes/No	0.50 (0.12-2.11)	0.349
Hypertension	Yes/No	0.89 (0.27-3.01)	0.856
Cholesterol	>220/≤220	1.47 (0.41-5.28)	0.559
Triglyceride	>200/≤200	2.65 (0.49-14.26)	0.256
HDL-cholesterol	≤40/>40	1.06 (0.31-3.63)	0.927
Ocular trauma	Yes / No	914 (0-∞)	0.784
APOE^†	ε3/ε3	1.00
	ε3/ε4	0.81 (0.21-3.08)	0.761
	ε2/ε3	0.43 (0.09-2.08)	0.292
	ε2/ε4	550.35 (0-∞)	0.917
	ε2/ε2	0.00 (0-∞)	0.834
APOE^† ε2	carrier /non-carrier	0.367(0.13-1.02)	0.053

^* CI = confidence interval;

^† APOE = apolipoprotein E.

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