Apolipoprotein E Gene Polymorphism and Serum Lipids in Patients with Superficial Fungal Disease

• Published in: Yonsei medical journal pp. 375 - 379
• Main Authors: Umit Tursen, Tamer Irfan Kaya, Gulcin Eskandari, Ebru Bocekli, Necati Muslu, Handan Camdeviren, Guliz Ikizoglu, Ugur Atik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 연세대학교의과대학 01.06.2004
• Subjects: 의학일반
• ISSN: 0513-5796; 1976-2437

Superficial mycosis, including dermatophytic infections, tinea versicolor, and cutaneous candidiasis is mostly limited to the outer layers of the skin, nails, and mucous membranes. In this study, Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) polymorphism and lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations were compared between 42 patients with superficial fungal disease and 27 control subjects. Both the patients and controls were found to be normolipemic. The patients with superficial fungal disease had significantly higher concentrations of high-density cholesterol (HDL) compared to the control group (p=0.0462). However, there was no difference in the serum triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol concentrations. A significantly higher incidence of heterozygosity E2/3 was found in the patients (p=0.0228), and significantly lower incidence of homozygosity E3/3 in all patients, and those with candidiasis and dermatophytosis (p=0.0139, 0.0194 and 0.0337, respectively) compared to the control group. The E3/4 genotype differences between patients and controls were not statistically significant. There were slight differences in the allele frequencies between the two groups, but these did not reach statistically significant levels. It was concluded that the presence of apoE2/3 genotype, high HDL-cholesterol levels and the absence of apoE3/3 genotype can be regarded as risk factors for superficial fungal disease, especially dermatophytosis. KCI Citation Count: 4