BackgroundThe associations of the apolipoprotein B gene (APOB) rs693 and rs17240441 polymorphisms with plasma levels of APOB and lipids have been widely explored, but the results were inconclusive. This meta-analysis aimed to clarify the associations of the rs693 and rs17240441 polymorphisms with fasting APOB and lipid levels.MethodsSixty-one studies (50,018 subjects) and 23 studies (8425 subjects) were respectively identified for the rs693 and rs17240441 polymorphisms by searching in PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, VIP and CNKI databases. The following information was collected for each study: first author, age, gender, ethnicity, health condition, sample size, genotyping, lipid assay method, mean and standard deviation or standard error of APOB and lipid variables by genotypes. A dominant model was used for this meta-analysis.ResultsThe carriers of the rs693 variant allele (T) had higher levels of APOB [standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.16–0.36, P < 0.01], triglycerides (TG) (SMD = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.05–0.20, P < 0.01), total cholesterol (TC) (SMD = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.17–0.30, P < 0.01) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (SMD = 0.22, 95% CI = 0.14–0.30, P < 0.01), and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (SMD = −0.06, 95% CI = −0.11–0.01, P = 0.01) than the non-carriers. The carriers of the rs17240441 deletion allele had higher levels of APOB (SMD = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.06–0.20, P < 0.01), TC (SMD = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.07–0.26, P < 0.01) and LDL-C (SMD = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.07–0.23, P < 0.01) than the non-carriers.ConclusionsThe rs693 polymorphism is significantly associated with higher levels of APOB, TG, TC and LDL-C, and lower levels of HDL-C. The rs17240441 polymorphism is significantly associated with higher levels of APOB, TC and LDL-C. Further studies are needed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12944-017-0558-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Objective: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus usually have multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors. The objective of this study was to examine the severity and associated risk factors in coronary artery disease patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: Two hundred and five coronary artery disease patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 205 age-, gender- and smoking-matched coronary artery disease patients without type 2 diabetes mellitus were recruited from the Department of Cardiology of our hospital. Demographic and clinical data were collected for all participants. Severity of coronary artery disease was assessed using Gensini scoring system, the number of diseased coronary arteries, and the extent of coronary stenosis. Results: Coronary artery disease patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus had higher Gensini scores (p < 0.01), more numbers of diseased coronary arteries (p < 0.001), and higher degrees of coronary stenosis (p = 0.05) than coronary artery disease patients without type 2 diabetes mellitus. The plasma levels of very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p < 0.001) and triglycerides (p < 0.001) were also higher in coronary artery disease patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus than in coronary artery disease patients without type 2 diabetes mellitus. In coronary artery disease patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was positively correlated with Gensini scores (r = 0.15, p = 0.03), the number of diseased coronary arteries (r = 0.15, p = 0.04), and the extent of coronary stenosis (r = 0.14, p = 0.05) by partial correlation analysis after controlling for other lipid parameters, and independently associated with Gensini scores (beta = 0.18, p = 0.02) and the number of diseased coronary arteries (odds ratio = 2.09, p = 0.05) after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors in the following multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: Very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol may represent a marker for the severity of coronary artery disease and be a target for the treatment in diabetic patients. Further research is needed to determine whether very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol plays a causal role of coronary artery disease in diabetic patients.