Novel Marker of Heart Disease Identified

Atherosclerosis, a component of heart disease, occurs with a build-up along the artery wall of fatty materials such as cholesterol. Numerous studies have suggested that high levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, “good”) cholesterol associates with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease  Daniel J. Rader, from the University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania, USA), and colleagues have studied the role of cholesterol efflux capacity, a marker of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol function that serves as a direct measure of the efficiency by which a person's HDL removes cholesterol that accumulates in arterial plaque.  The team measured cholesterol efflux capacity in 203 healthy subjects who underwent assessment of carotid artery intima-media thickness, a measure of arthrosclerosis.  An inverse relationship was noted between cholesterol efflux capacity and carotid intima-media thickness both before and after adjustment for the HDL cholesterol level. After an age- and gender- adjusted analysis, increasing efflux capacity conferred decreased likelihood of having coronary artery disease. The researchers conclude that: “Cholesterol efflux capacity from macrophages, a metric of HDL function, has a strong inverse association with both carotid intima–media thickness and the likelihood of angiographic coronary artery disease, independently of the HDL cholesterol level. “