Cholesterol Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Cholesterol, including details on high cholesterol, hdl, ldl, diet, risks.

Do mutations causing low HDL-C promote increased carotid intima-media thickness?

Miller M, Rhyne J, Hong SH, Friel G, Dolinar C, Riley W

University of Maryland Hospital and Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, United States. mmiller@medicine.umaryland.edu

BACKGROUND: Although observational data support an inverse relationship between high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and coronary heart disease (CHD), genetic HDL deficiency states often do not correlate with premature CHD. METHODS: Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) measurements were obtained in cases comprising 10 different mutations in LCAT, ABCA1 and APOA1 to further evaluate the relationship between low HDL resulting from genetic variation and early atherosclerosis. RESULTS: In a 1:2 case-control study of sex and age-related (+/-5 y) subjects (n=114), cIMT was nearly identical between cases (0.66+/-0.17 cm) and controls (0.65+/-0.18 cm) despite significantly lower HDL cholesterol (0.67 vs. 1.58 mmol/l) and apolipoprotein A-I levels (96.7 vs. 151.4 mg/dl) (P<0.05) CONCLUSIONS: Genetic variants identified in the present study may be insufficient to promote early carotid atherosclerosis.

Published 18 December 2006 in Clin Chim Acta, 377(1): 273-5.
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