OBJECTIVES To examine whether the lipid parameters are predicting factors for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated lipodystrophy. METHODS Whole-body fat compositions of HIV-positive patients receiving stavudine-containing antiretroviral regimens (n = 79) were determined. Lipodystrophy was defined as a ratio of trunk fat mass/lower limb fat mass greater than 2.28. Blood samples were a...

To the Editor: Apolipoprotein AI (AApoAI)–associated amyloidosis is characterized by the deposition of apolipoprotein AI (apoAI) and occurs as a hereditary and a nonhereditary form. Hereditary AApoAI amyloidosis is a systemic disease leading to the deposition of amyloid in various organs and tissues and is caused by germline mutations in the APOA1 gene. Nonhereditary AApoAI amyloid is far more ...

Anion-exchange chromatography resolves human plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) into 5 subfractions, with increasing negative surface charge in the direction of L1 to L5. Unlike the harmless L1 to L4, the exclusively atherogenic L5 is rejected by the normal LDL receptor (LDLR) but endocytosed into vascular endothelial cells through the lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor-1 (LOX-1). Analysis wit...

Comparison of genomic DNA sequences from human and mouse revealed a new apolipoprotein (APO) gene (APOAV) located proximal to the well-characterized APOAI/CIII/AIV gene cluster on human 11q23. Mice expressing a human APOAV transgene showed a decrease in plasma triglyceride concentrations to one-third of those in control mice; conversely, knockout mice lacking Apoav had four times as much plasma...

While a significant component of atherosclerotic plaques has been characterized as amyloid, the specific proteins remain to be fully identified. Probable amyloidogenic proteins are apolipoproteins (Apos), which are vital for the formation and function of lipoproteins. ApoCIII is an abundant protein implicated in atherosclerosis, and we show it forms a ribbonlike looped amyloid, strikingly simil...

HDL has a key role in reverse cholesterol transport, mobilizing cholesterol from the peripheral tissues to liver. In this process, the ABC transporter A1 (ABCA1) protein controls the efflux of intracellular cholesterol to apoAI, the major apolipoprotein of HDL. Since ABCA1 mutations were discovered to cause Tangier disease, a rare recessive HDL deficiency, it has been speculated that sequence v...

Human paraoxonase (PON1) is a calcium-dependent esterase closely associated with high density lipoprotein (HDL)-containing apolipoprotein AI (apoAI), which has been shown to confer antioxidant properties to HDL. PON1 has been recently implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Low PON1 activities have been found in familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and diabetes mellitus. We have undert...