Correlation of apolipoprotein E gene polymorphisms and lipid metabolism levels with gallbladder stone formation
Objective To explore the relationship of apolipoprotein E(Apo E)gene polymorphism and lipid metabolism levels with the formation of gallbladder stones.Methods A retrospective study was conducted by selecting 100 patients diagnosed with gallbladder stones from June 2022 to June 2023 at Wenzhou People's Hospital as the gallbladder stone group,and another 100 healthy individuals underwent physical examinations during the same period at the same hospital as the control group.Apo E gene polymorphism was analyzed with multi-channel fluorescent quantitative analysis using a gene detection kit.The distribution of Apo E genotypes,allele frequency distribution,and serum levels of TG,TC,HDL-C,LDL-C,non-HDL-C,and lipoprotein levels were compared between the two groups.Binary logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the independent risk factors for the occurrence of gallbladder stones,and the predictive efficacy of risk factors on the gallbladder stones was evaluated by ROC curve.Results Patients in the gallbladder stone group had higher levels of TC,HDL-C,and LDL-C compared to the control group(all P<0.05).Analysis of Apo E gene polymorphism revealed that the frequencies of the ε2 and ε4 alleles were higher in patients with gallbladder stones than those in the control group(both P<0.01).Furthermore,the frequencies of the genotypes E2/3,E2/4,E3/4,E4/4,and the combined genotype E2/4+E3/4+E4/4 were also increased in the gallbladder stone group(all P<0.01).Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that the genotypes E2/3,E2/4,and E3/4,gender,HDL-C levels,and smoking history were independent risk factors for the development of gallbladder stones(all P<0.05).The combined predictive factors of E2/4,E3/4,TG and HDL-C showed a sensitivity of 0.710,a specificity of 0.910,a Youden's index of 0.620,a cut-off value of 0.600,and an AUC of 0.880 for predicting gallbladder stones.Conclusion Apo E gene polymorphism exists in patients with gallbladder stones,the development of which is associated with Apo E gene polymorphism,gender,HDL-C levels,and smoking history.The genotypes E2/4,E3/4,along with TG and HDL-C,can serve as potential predictors for the development of gallbladder stones.