Objectives Endothelial lipase (EL) is a novel member of the triglyceride (TG) lipase family. A growing body of evidence has indicated that EL gene polymorphism might contribute to the process of coronary artery disease (CAD)

Methods The present study was aimed to reveal the potential relationship between EL 584C/T gene polymorphism and early onset CAD and CAD severity and lipids in a Chinese Han population. The subjects were composed of 135 early onset CAD patients and 166 controls. We detected the EL 584C/T genotypic and allelic frequencies by PCR methods.

Results The frequencies of the CC, CT and TT genotypes were respectively 58.4, 38.6 and 3.0% in control group, and 62.2, 33.3 and 4.5% in early onset CAD group. There was no significant difference between early onset CAD group and control group in CC genotype and T allele carriers. The frequency of T allele was respectively 22.3% in control group, and 21.1% in early onset CAD group. The T allele frequency of the variant was no significant difference in two groups (P = 0.766). After adjustment for the age, gender, current smoker, hypertension, DM and lipids, the genotype remained no significant association with early onset CAD. At the same time, there was no significant difference between the genotype and the severity of CAD (P = 0.596). Additionally, there was no difference between the genotypes and lipid levels or their ratios in total subject.

Conclusions We found that the EL 584C/T gene polymorphism might not be associated with early onset CAD and the severity of CAD in Chinese Han population, suggesting that this variant might not be involved in the pathogenesis of early onset CAD.