Haplotype analysis at the low density lipoprotein receptor locus: application to the study of familial hypercholesterolemia in Israel

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) results from mutations in the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor gene. It has been shown that restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) associated with this gene may be used for family and population studies. The present investigation is a population-based study of 19 Jewish families with hypercholesterolemia representing 9 different countries of origin. Ten RFLP sites were used to construct 24 different haplotypes from 112 chromosomes. These haplotypes vary in frequency from 0.9% to 28.6%. Five previously undescribed haplotypes, which comprise 8.1% of the sample, are reported here. The six most common haplotypes account for 70% of the sample. Segregation analysis reveals that, in Israel, distinct LDL receptor haplotypes are associated with hypercholesterolemia in 12 (63%) out of the 19 Jewish families. Five LDL receptor haplotypes co-segregate with hypercholesterolemia. Two of these haplotypes seem to be unique to specific population groups in Israel and may therefore represent founder mutations.