ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the association between two polymorphisms of the APOC3 gene (T-455C and C-482T) and hereditary risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 287 patients with NAFLD and 310 control subjects were genotyped by PCR and direct sequencing. Serum lipid profiles were also detected by standard biochemical</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One-hundred-and-eighty of the study participants were used to measure the APOC3 content by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Inter-group differences and associations were assessed statistically using Chi square and t tests and logistic and linear regression analyses.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The frequencies of neither the genotypes or alleles were significantly different between the NAFLD cases and the controls. Compared with the most common genotypes-455TT or-482CC, none of the variants showed a significant increase in risk of NAFLD or for the clinical and biochemical parameters. The adjusted odds ratios (with 95% confidence intervals) of NAFLD were 1.25 (0.79-1.96) and 1.20 (0.76-1.89) for carriers of the APOC3-455C and-482 T variants respectively (P more than 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The T-455C and C-482T polymorphisms of the APOC3 gene are not associated with risk of NAFLD, pathogenic changes in lipid profiles, or insulin resistance in Han Chinese.</p>