Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between apolipoprotein A Ñ(apoA Ñ) gene polymorphism and effects of pravastatin and policosan on regulation of lipid metabolism in hypercholesterolemic individuals. Methods Eighty-three patients with hyperlipidemia were enrolled in and treated with policosan or pravastatin for 12 weeks. The restriction fragment length polymorphisms(RFLPS) ploymorphic sites of MspI was used to detect the -75 bp polymorphisms of apoA Ñ gene in these patients. For all subjects the serum lipids profiles were measured. Results After 12-weeks'treatment with pravastatin, the decrease of triglyceride(TG) with A/A+G/A genotype patients was from (6.66±0.98)mmol/L to (6.07±1.02)mmol/L(P=0.001), while the decrease of TC with G/G genotype patients was from (6.55±0.75)mmol/L to (6.16±0.75)mmol/L(P=0.083); however, After 12-weeks'treatment with policosan, the decrease of TG with A/A+G/A genotype patients was from(6.54±0.54)mmol/L to (6.34±1.29)mmol/L(P=0.257), while the decrease of TC with G/G genotype was from (6.60±0.76)mmol/L to (6.12±0.71)mmol/L(P=0.004). Conclusion ApoA-Ñ polymorphisms are correlated with variations in serum triglyceride concentrations in hypercholesterolemic individuals. Our results suggest that the A/A+G/A polymorphism of the apoA-Ñ promoter region is correlated with the decrease of serum cholesterol level in response to pravastatin treatment and the G/G polymorphism is correlated with decrease of serum cholesterol in response to policosan treatment.

Key words: apolipoprotein A-Ñ, lipids, Msp Ñ, pravastatin, policosan, gene polymorphism, triglyceride