In order to explore the association of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene polymorphism with cerebral infarction in type 2 diabetic patients of Han nationality in Northeast China , the genotypes of ApoE gene were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction -restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in the 208 cases, including 69 cases in control (CON) group and 67 in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) group as well as 72 in type 2 diabetes mellitus with cerebral infarction (T2DMCI) group. Plasma lipid content in T2DMCI was also detected for 70 cases. The distribution of genotypes in ApoE gene,epsilon(2)epsilon(3),epsilon(3)epsilon(3) as well as epsilon(3)epsilon(4) was no significant difference in three groups (epsilon(2)epsilon(3) : 13.2%,epsilon(3)epsilon(3) : 67.6%,epsilon(3)epsilon(4) : 16.2%in CON group;epsilon(2)epsilon(3) : 19.4%,epsilon(3)epsilon(3): : 70.1%epsilon(3)epsilon(4) : 9%in T2DM group;epsilon(2)epsilon(3) : 15.2%,epsilon(3)epsilon(3) : 75%,epsilon(3)epsilon(4) : 4.2%in T2DMCI group). The allele frequencies of epsilon(2),epsilon(3) and epsilon(4) were not significantly different in the three groups, either(epsilon(2) : 9.6%,epsilon(3) : 82.4%,epsilon(4) : 8.1%in CON group; epsilon(2) :10.5%,epsilon(3) :84.3%,epsilon(4) : 5.2%in T2DM group; epsilon(2) :11.8%,epsilon(3) :84.7%,epsilon(4) : 3.5%in T2DMCI group). The levels of total cholesterol (TC), tryglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) were not significantly different among the different genotypes in T2DMCI group. The study confirmed that the polymorphisms of ApoE gene are neither associated with the T2DMCI, nor with the levels of plasma lipid in T2DMCI.