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Apolipoprotein E polymorphism and lipoprotein compositions in patients with Behçet's disease
Umit Tursen1, Gulcin Eskandari, Tamer Irfan Kaya
1Department of Dermatology, University of Mersin School of Medicine, Mersin, Turkey. utursen@mersin.edu.tr
Background:
Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystemic disease of unknown etiology characterized by chronic relapsing oral-genital ulcers and uveitis. Some abnormalities in lipoprotein metabolism have been described in patients with BD.
Methods:
In this study, apolipoprotein E (apo E) polymorphism and lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations in 30 patients with BD were compared with those of 27 control subjects.
Results:
Both patients and controls were found to be normolipidemic. Patients with BD had significantly higher concentrations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol than those of controls (P < 0.05); however, there was no difference in serum triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol concentrations. The distribution of apo E genotypes and alleles was the same in both groups. There were slight differences in allele frequency between the groups, but this was not statistically significant.
Conclusions:
The high HDL cholesterol levels observed in our patients were not related to abnormalities in apo E alleles.