Apolipoprotein E Gene Polymorphism, Serum Lipids, and Risk of Superficial Fungal Infections in Egyptian Patients – A Preliminary Case-Controlled Study

BACKGROUND: Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene isoforms have been found to affect the risk of superficial fungal infections (SFIs). However, the data only cover a few ethnicities. AIMS: The present work intended to investigate the association of APOE gene polymorphism and serum lipids with the susceptibility of SFIs among a group of Egyptian patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Standard laboratory methods were used to estimate the serum lipid profile, and polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to detect APOE gene polymorphism in deoxyribonucleic acid extracted from 150 SFI patients and an equal number of apparently healthy matched controls. RESULTS: Serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly higher in the studied patients than in controls. The APOE gene ε2, ε4 alleles, and ε3/4 and ε3/2 genotypes were significantly distributed in the patients than in the controls. APOE ε3/3 genotype was predominant in dermatophytosis and tinea versicolour patients, and ε3/4 genotype was predominant in candidiasis. CONCLUSIONS: ApoE alleles ε2 and ε4, and genotypes ε2/3 and ε3/4 are linked to SFI and may be risk factors, whereas allele ε3 and genotype ε3/3 may be protective for SFI in the Egyptian population studied. The lipid profile results suggest that hyperlipidemia may provide evidence for SFI pathogenesis. However; further large-scale studies are still needed to validate our results.