While high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels are positively associated with cardiovascular events, it is still unclear whether familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and Tangier's disease (TD), caused by mutations in LDLR and ABCA1, respectively, influence ischemic stroke (IS) in humans.
The K allele of the R219K variant was significantly more frequent in FH subjects without premature CHD (0.32, 95% CI 0.27 to 0.37) than in FH subjects with premature CHD (0.25, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.29) (p<0.05), suggesting that the genetic variant R219K in ABCA1 could influence the development and progression of atherosclerosis in FH subjects.