). Carotid artery intima-media thickness and brachial artery flowmediated vasodilation in asymptomatic Japanese male subjects amongst apolipoprotein E phenotypes. J Intern Med 2002; 252: 114-120.Background. Epidemiological studies suggest that apolipoprotein E (apoE) polymorphism influences plasma lipoprotein levels and the development of cardiovascular disease. Objective. To clarify the role of apoE polymorphism as a risk factor for early atherosclerosis. Design. Using a high-resolution ultrasound method, we investigated the association between apoE phenotypes, carotid intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT), and flow-mediated dilation in the brachial artery (brachial-FMD) in 96 healthy asymptomatic Japanese men (mean ± SD age, 50 ± 8 years). Results. Serum cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels in subjects with E3E4 were highest and those with E2E3 were lowest (P < 0.05 and P < 0.05, respectively). The CCA-IMT in E3E4 subjects (0.76 ± 0.17 mm) was greater than that in E2E3

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Lipoprotein (Lp)(a) concentrations were measured in eight patients with nephrotic syndrome in the age range of 8 to 69 yrs. Mean(± SE) levels of serum Lp(a) were elevated in the nephrotic patients compared to controls (76.5 ± 19.7 vs 18.6 ± 0.9 mg/dl, p <0.001). After treatment with prednisolone, Lp(a) concentrations were decreased from 85.2 ±21.6 to 42.2 ± 14.0 mg/dl. During the treatment, serum total cholesterol showed a negative correlation with serumalbuminconcentration. However, no correlation wasnoted betweenLp(a) and serum albumin concentration. There were no significant correlations between Lp(a) and other lipoprotein lipid and apolipoprotein levels. It was concluded that hyperLp(a) aemia may be an independent risk factor in the development of premature atherosclerosis in patients with nephrotic syndrome.

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