The aim of the present pilot study was to determine associations between maternal Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotype, lipid levels during pregnancy, fetal growth, and placental pathology.
In this case-control study, serum samples from pregnant women without hypertension who delivered small-for-gestational age (SGA) infants ( = 50) were matched on gestational age at sample collection with non-SGA infants ( = 100). ApoE allele distributions and lipid levels were compared between cases and controls and among placental pathological findings.
No differences in ApoE genotypes were noted between groups. High density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels were higher in ε2 carriers versus ε3/ε3 and ε4 carriers (78.1 vs. 67.7 vs. 64.0 mg/dL,  < 0.01 and  < 0.001, respectively), and in SGA pregnancies (73.2 vs 65.1 mg/dL,  = 0.003).
Findings suggest increased HDL in pregnancy may be associated with the ε2 allele and decreased fetal growth. These findings provide a useful starting point for further research and should be explored in larger population-based studies.