Background Hypercholesterolemia (HCH) takes a significant position in the progression of total cardiovascular risk. Risk prediction of hypercholesterolemia is necessary in the early stages of ontogeny, in childhood, in cardiovascular disease onset. Genetic predisposition plays an important role in this progression.

Research goal To define the role of insertion-deletion polymorphism (Ins/Del) Apolipoprotein B gene in the lipid disorders formation in teenagers with essential hypertension (EH).

Methods In total 182 Caucasian teenagers (Russia, Irkutsk) aged 12–18 years (15,52±1,25 years: 109 males and 73 females) were included in the study. The first group: 70 teenagers diagnosed with EH with no hypercholesterolemia (EH-HCH). The second group: 39 teenagers EH+HCH. The control group included 73 teenagers with arterial pressure levels<90 percentile of blood pressure distribution curve for the corresponding age, sex and height and with no hypercholesterolemia. Biochemical measurements of blood lipids were conducted for each teenager. Genotyping of polymorphic variants ApoB (Ins/Del) (rs17240441) was carried out by PCR with agarose gel electrophoresis detection.

The results of blood lipids analyses comparison in carriers of different ApoB genotypes showed statistically significant differences in total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) in the group of teenagers EH-HCH and the group EH+HCH. For teenagers with EH-HCH, with genotype Ins/Ins, total cholesterol level was −3.74 mmol/L, with genotype Ins/Del – 4.40 mmol/L, with genotype Del/Del – 4.48 mmol/L (p=0.0003). The levels of LDL were 1.60 mmol/L, 2.80 mmol/L, 2.84 mmol/L, respectively (p=0.0003). In the group of teenagers EH+HCH the total cholesterol levels were 5.30 mmol/L, 5.40 mmol/L, 6.08 mmol/L, respectively (p=0.0094). LDL levels in EH+HCH were not statistically different. The differences in lipid profiles were not found in the carriers of different genotypes of the control group.

Conclusions Teenagers with EH, who are carriers of Del-allele ApoB gene, are at risk group for early development of hypercholesterolemia and proatherogenic dyslipidemia.