The association of apolipoprotein AIV (APOA4) with depression or plasma levels of lipids and glucose has been inconsistently reported. However, interplays between APOA4 and depression on the levels have not been explored yet. The present study aimed to investigate plasma levels of APOA4, lipids, and glucose in adolescents with different genotypes of APOA4 rs5104 and with or without depression. Depressive symptoms were assessed in 631 adolescents by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). A total score of 14 was defined as the cutoff point for depression. Plasma levels of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), glucose, and insulin were measured by routine methods, and APOA4 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses and verified by DNA sequencing. Female adolescents had higher prevalence of depression than male subjects only in G allele carriers (p = 0.015), but not in AA homozygotes. Risk factors of depression and predictors of depression severity were different between G allele carriers and AA homozygotes. Lower levels of glucose (p = 0.003) were observed in male G allele carriers than those in male AA homozygotes and increased TG levels (p = 0.008) in female G allele carriers when compared with those in female AA homozygotes. When both APOA4 rs5104 and depression were taken into account, subjects with depression had higher levels of plasma APOA4 than adolescents without depression only in female G allele carriers (p = 0.043), but no significant changes of plasma lipids and glucose. Depression augments plasma APOA4 levels without changes of plasma lipids and glucose in female adolescents carrying G allele of APOA4 rs5104. These results may provide a novel explanation for the inconsistent relationship between depression, APOA4, and plasma levels of lipids and glucose in the literature.

载脂蛋白 AIV (APOA4) 与抑郁症或血浆脂质和葡萄糖水平的相关性报道不一致。然而，尚未探索 APOA4 与抑郁水平之间的相互作用。本研究旨在调查具有不同APOA4基因型的青少年的血浆 APOA4、脂质和葡萄糖水平。rs5104 和有或没有抑郁症。贝克抑郁量表 (BDI) 对 631 名青少年的抑郁症状进行了评估。总分 14 分被定义为抑郁症的分界点。常规方法测定血浆甘油三酯（TG）、总胆固醇（TC）、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇（LDL-C）、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）、葡萄糖和胰岛素水平，用酶法测定APOA4联免疫吸附测定。通过聚合酶链反应-限制性片段长度多态性分析进行基因分型，并通过DNA测序进行验证。仅在 G 等位基因携带者中，女性青少年的抑郁症患病率高于男性受试者（p = 0.015)，但不是在 AA 纯合子中。G等位基因携带者和AA纯合子的抑郁危险因素和抑郁严重程度的预测因素不同。 与女性 AA 纯合子相比，男性 G 等位基因携带者的葡萄糖水平较低（p = 0.003），而女性 G 等位基因携带者的 TG 水平（ p  = 0.008）高于女性 AA 纯合子。当同时考虑 APOA4 rs5104 和抑郁症时，仅在女性 G 等位基因携带者中，患有抑郁症的受试者的血浆 APOA4 水平高于没有抑郁症的青少年（p = 0.043)，但血脂和葡萄糖无明显变化。在携带APOA4 rs5104的 G 等位基因的女性青少年中，抑郁症会增加血浆 APOA4 水平，而不会改变血浆脂质和葡萄糖。这些结果可能为文献中抑郁症、APOA4 和血浆脂质和葡萄糖水平之间的不一致关系提供了新的解释。