Abnormal concentration and anomalous distribution of apolipoprotein A-I in Tangier disease.

A double-antibody radioimmunoassay was used to determine the concentration and distribution of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) in the plasma of patients with Tangier disease. Obligate heterozygotes for Tangier disease had apoA-I levels that were 50% or less of controls, even when estimates of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration were normal. Plasma apoA-I levels in Tangier homozygotes were at most 3% of normal. Most of the apoA-I in the plasma of homozygotes sedimented in the ultracentrifuge at density 1.21 g/ml, and no more than 20% was recovered in the plasma lipoprotein fraction. Radioimmunoassay demonstrated no immunochemical differences between Tangier and control apoA-I.