APOA1 and metabolic syndrome: Of them, Sik3, Apoa1, and Apoc3 are located precisely underneath the linkage peak of Bglu17 and Hdlq17, and they are also functional candidate genes of Hdlq17. Indeed, recent GWAS studies have associated these three genes with dyslipidemia or variations in HDL, LDL cholesterol, and triglyceride levels [6, 39, 42].