Case Workbook for Human Genetics 9th Edition by Ricki Lewis

Exercise 5

Due to inherited differences in the way the body processes cholesterol, some people can eat a fatty diet yet have healthy blood serum cholesterol, and others develop dangerously high cholesterol levels if they do not eat wisely. Several drugs can lower blood serum cholesterol level. Researchers found that people with a certain variant of a gene encoding a protein that transports cholesterol into liver cells (cholesteryl ester transfer protein, or CETP) are likely to have a cholesterol problem, and are also more likely to benefit from cholesterol-lowering drugs than people with different alleles. What information would be important to have before undergoing a CETP gene test and possibly taking a cholesterol-lowering drug?