Lipid Lowering Therapy and Circulating PCSK9 Concentration

Lipid Lowering Therapy and Circulating PCSK9 Concentration

Hypercholesterolemia, particularly an increase in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, contributes substantially to the development of coronary artery disease and the risk for cardiovascular events. As the first-line pharmacotherapy, statins have been shown to reduce both LDL-C levels and cardiovascular events. However, despite intensive statin therapy, a sizable proportion of st...

PCSK9 inhibitors: A new era of lipid lowering therapy

Hyperlipidemia is a well-established risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). The recent American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines on lipid management emphasize treatment of individuals at increased risk for developing CVD events with 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) at doses proven to reduce CVD events. However,...

Lipid-lowering interventions targeting proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9): an emerging chapter in lipid-lowering therapy

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is a serine protease that is mainly expressed in the liver but can also be found in the intestine and kidneys. PCSK9 promotes the degradation of low density lipoprotein receptors (LDLR) by reducing their recycling and targeting the receptors for lysosomal destruction, thereby decreasing the rate of removal of LDL-cholesterol from the circula...

Statins: Newer Roles Including Lipid Lowering Therapy

Statins are most effective pharmacologically agents to decrease total plasma cholesterol level by competitive inhibition of HMG-Co A reductase. Apart from the well-known LDL and cholesterol lowering effect, statins have been postulated to exert other beneficial effects also called pleotropic or non-lipid effects. Better understanding of various pleotropic effects of statins has prompted a new s...

PCSK9 inhibitors for LDL lowering.