The association between apolipoprotein E (Apo-E) polymorphism and the response of plasma cholesterol to dietary therapy (cholesterol intake of less than 300mg/day) was investigated for about 8 weeks in 208 nonfamilial hypercholesterolemia patients (E3/3 161, E4/3 47). The baseline lipoprotein concentration and the intake of energy and lipids were not significantly different between subjects with E3/3 and those with E4/3 phenotypes. After the dietary therapy plasma total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly decreased in both phenotype groups (p<0.05). The patients with E4/3 had significantly smaller reductions of LDL-C than the patients with E3/3. The changes of LDL-C showed a significant difference between the patients with E3/3 and E4/3 by the Kruskal Wallis test (p=0.041). The presence of E4/3 predicted the degree of cholesterol reduction following dietary therapy.
