Background: In recent years, one of the focuses of genetic investigation in cardiology has been to identify the genetic factors associated with variable response to statin treatment. Polymorphisms in apolipoprotein E (APOE), cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) and hepatic lipase (LIPC), proteins with major roles in lipid metabolism and homeostasis have been shown associated with lipid-lowering drugs response.
Methods: One hundred forty-six hypercholesterolemic patients of European descent were prospectively enrolled and treated with simvastatin 20 mg per day for over 6 months. Ninety-nine subjects completed the 6-month follow-up. Plasma lipids and lipoproteins were measured before and throughout the study. APOE (E*2, E*3 and E*4), LIPC-250A > G and CETP TaqIB genotypes were determined by PCR and restriction mapping.
Results: After a 6-month follow-up, no differences among genotypes in the percentage variation in lipid and lipoprotein concentrations for APOE and LIPC SNPs were observed. After adjustment for covariates, CETP B2B2 homozygotes showed a greater HDL-cholesterol increase compared to B1B2 and B1B1 subjects (14.1% vs. 1.7% and 1.3%, P < 0.05, respectively).
Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that individual plasma HDL-cholesterol response to simvastatin is mediated, in part, by the CETP gene locus, with the B2 homozygotes having more benefit in HDL-C improvement than carriers of B1 allele.