Atorvastatin reduces both plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in patients with type 2 diabetes, but mechanisms underlying triglyceride decrease and the effect of atorvastatin on high density lipoprotein (HDL) still remain unclear. Apolipoprotein (apo) E plays a crucial role in modulating production and clearance of triglyceride-rich very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). The main e...

AIMS In this study, we investigated the impact of enhancing cholesterol delivery to mitochondrial sterol 27-hydroxylase, via steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), on the expression of genes involved in macrophage cholesterol homeostasis and efflux of cholesterol to apolipoprotein (apo) AI. METHODS AND RESULTS Stably transfected, murine (RAW 264.7) macrophages were used to investigate...

The cholesterol biosynthetic pathway produces numerous signaling molecules. Oxysterols through liver X receptor (LXR) activation regulate cholesterol efflux, whereas the non-sterol mevalonate metabolite, geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP), was recently demonstrated to inhibit ABCA1 expression directly, through antagonism of LXR and indirectly through enhanced RhoA geranylgeranylation. We used ...

HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) plasma levels are inversely related to cardiovascular disease risk. Previous studies have shown in animals and humans that HDL promotes regression of atherosclerosis. We hypothesized that this was related to an ability to promote the loss of monocyte-derived cells (CD68(+), primarily macrophages and macrophage foam cells) from plaques. To test this hypothesis, we used an...

BACKGROUND Diet induces changes in plasma lipid profiles, and the plasma lipid profiles vary among different genetic backgrounds. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate how a high-carbohydrate (high-CHO) diet interacts with hepatic lipase G-250A promoter polymorphism to affect the ratios of plasma lipids and apolipoproteins (apo) in a young Chinese population. MATERIAL AND METH...

Apolipoproteins of high density lipoprotein (HDL) and especially apolipoprotein (apo)AI and apoAII have been demonstrated as binding directly to the class B type I scavenger receptor (SR-BI), the HDL receptor that mediates selective cholesteryl ester uptake. However, the functional relevance of the binding capacity of each apolipoprotein is still unknown. The human adrenal cell line, NCI-H295R,...

Epidemiological studies within developed populations have demonstrated that high levels of HDL cholesterol are associated with decreased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, although the precise mechanism for this protective effect is not completely understood. Apolipoprotein (apo) AI is the major protein constituent of HDL, and high-level hepatic production of human apoAI in transge...

BACKGROUND/AIM The aim of this study was to investigate the association of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] with the severity of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Han Chinese people. MATERIALS AND METHODS Six hundred and seventy-nine patients with angiographically defined CHD were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Fasting lipids were measured, and the severity of CHD was quantitatively assessed for...

Maintaining cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) levels within healthy limits is critical for decreasing the risk of heart disease. Dyslipidemia refers to the abnormal levels of lipids in the blood, including low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), also known as good cholesterol, high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), also known as bad cholesterol, and/or high TG levels that c...

Degranulated mast cells are present in human fatty streaks. Chymase in granules released from degranulated rat serosal mast cells, i.e., in granule remnants, proteolyzes human high density lipoprotein3 (HDL3), and so reduces its ability to induce cholesterol efflux from macrophage foam cells in vitro. In this study we found that remnant chymase, by proteolyzing human serum and human aortic inti...