APH1B and hypertensive disorder: We then compared the association of the APH1B Leu217 allele with clinical parameters in the atherosclerosis patients, including the presence of risk factors (e.g. smoking behavior and occurrence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus), and the blood levels of lipid compounds (e.g. cholesterol, triglycerides, and low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) (for a detailed overview of the parameters tested, see Table 2).