ABSTRACT
The practical and ethical issues raised by the availability of such tests are considered in conjunction with possible future ways to influence APOE-genotype-dependent disease. The identification of protein polymorphism for apoE, and the recognition of its expression in several body compartments including plasma and nervous system, places the need to examine this variation in the context of a wide array of different disease states. The carboxyl-terminal domain has a region of amphipathic and helical structure of polar and non-polar residues and this represents the major lipid-binding region of apoE. Coronary disease is a final common pathway of disease which can involve, in various combinations, smoking, hyperlipidaemias and atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, variations in clotting, oxidation status and perhaps resistance to fatal arrhythmias. However, since apoE is necessary and expressed elsewhere than the central nervous system, specificity must somehow be achieved both for organ and isoform.
