Some patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FHC, type II) are highly responsive to the cholesterol-lowering effect of clofibrate, while others are not only resistant to this effect but may even show an increase in plasma beta-lipoproteins.
Furthermore, all these mutations are newly described and demonstrate heterogeneity of LDLR gene mutations responsible for FH in the French population, as in other reported Caucasian populations.
Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), at a prevalence of about 1 in 200 in the French-Canadian population, is caused by a 10-kb deletion in the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor gene in 60% of French-Canadian FH heterozygotes.
Here, we report the prenatal diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia in a Christian-Arab family that carries the "Lebanese" mutation, a single base substitution that creates a HinfI restriction site, at the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor locus.
Since the cloning of the human LDL receptor (LDLR) gene, familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) can be diagnosed by recombinant DNA technology either using restriction enzyme mapping to detect major rearrangements of the gene or using restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) and linkage analysis in family studies.
Haplotype analysis of the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene was performed in Norwegian subjects heterozygous for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH).
Haplotype analysis at the LDLR locus in two FH families where the proband possessed the mutation revealed that the mutation was on two different haplotypes.
Detection of the Pro664-Leu mutation in the low-density lipoprotein receptor and its relation to lipoprotein(a) levels in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia of Dutch ancestry from The Netherlands and Canada.
Verapamil and diltiazem stimulated LDL-receptor activity also in cells from a heterozygous FH patient, while they were inactive in a receptor defective homozygous FH patient.
Screening of hyperlipidemic Afrikaner individuals for specific founder-related LDLR gene mutations can provide a definite diagnosis of FH, which may lead to better counselling and optimal treatment.
A large deletion in the LDL receptor gene--the cause of familial hypercholesterolemia in three Italian families: a study that dates back to the 17th century (FH-Pavia).
The distinction between FH and FDB may have therapeutic implications, because certain lipid lowering drugs act by stimulation of the LDL receptor, which has a normal function in FDB.
These results, combined with our earlier data on another LDL receptor gene deletion (FH-Helsinki), demonstrate that two "Finnish-type" mutant LDL receptor genes make up about two thirds of FH mutations in this country, reflecting a founder gene effect.
It was not found neither in another Druze FH family residing in a different geographical area nor in eight Arab and four Jewish FH heterozygote index cases whose hypercholesterolemia cosegregates with an identical LDL receptor gene haplotype.