OBJECTIVETo investigate the single nucleotide polymorphism 4 (SNP4) of the apolipoprotein A5 (APOA5) gene possible association with coronary heart disease(CHD) and its distribution of in Chinese Han population.

METHODSAPOA5 SNP4 genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction and Hae III restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.

RESULTSAPOA5 allelic frequencies of T, C were 0.435, 0.565 and 0.374, 0.626 in CHD group and control group, respectively. There is significant difference in allele and genotype frequencies between CHD group and control group (P<0.05). The levels of plasma high density lipoprotein in CHD patients with CC genotype were higher than those in CHD patients with other genotypes (P<0.01). The frequencies of T allele and C allele in Chinese was significantly different from those in Caucasians (0.374 vs 0.663, 0.626 vs 0.337, P<0.01). The C allele was much more common in Chinese population.

CONCLUSIONThe association is found between the Hae III polymorphism and CHD, There is a significant correlation between the CC genotype of the APOA5 and the levels of plasma high density lipoprotein-cholosteal in the CHD group.