Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 16, Issue 13, 2010

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated for nearly 50 years that high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels are inversely correlated with the incidence of ischemic cardiovascular diseases. This inverse relationship is attributed to the role of HDL in reverse cholesterol transport, but may also be related to its anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, or endothelial protective properties, so called pleiotropic effects. Read More

Accumulation of cholesterol by macrophages, leading to their transformation into foam cells is a key event in the initiation of atherosclerosis. As maintenance of cholesterol homeostasis in macrophages is essential to prevent foam cell formation, mechanisms by which macrophages export cellular cholesterol have been intensively investigated in recent years. Several epidemiological studies have shown that plasma levels of Read More

Atherosclerosis is the major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A multitude of pro-atherogenic mediators are known liable for the initiation and progression of atherogenic vascular lesions. Only few endogenous molecules are known so far with cardiovascular protective properties, whereas high-density lipoprotein (HDL) is one of the most important. Beside cholesterol efflux, many pleiotropic cell-mediate Read More

Reduced levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) are associated with a substantially increased risk of coronary disease and cardiovascular events. Furthermore, numerous studies have suggested that HDL may exert several potentially important antiatherosclerotic and endothelial-protective effects. In particular, the promotion of reverse cholesterol transport, i.e. cholesterol efflux from lipid-loaded macr Read More

Plasma concentrations of HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) are strongly and inversely associated with cardiovascular risk, leading to the concept that therapies to enhance plasma HDL-C levels would be anti-atherogenic and protective against cardiovascular events. However, HDL are highly heterogeneous, with subclasses that can be separated and identified according to density, size, charge, and protein composition. There i Read More

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, which is an independent cardiovascular risk factor. Low HDL cholesterol concentrations reflect a dysregulation in HDL metabolism, which is determined by the concerted action of different proteins, including cholesterol ester transfer protein, lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase, endothelial and lipoprotein lipase, phospholipid transfer Read More

Population studies have consistently shown that high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels are a strong, independent inverse predictor of cardiovascular disease. Every 1 mg/dl increase in HDL cholesterol is associated with a 2% to 3% decrease in coronary artery disease risk, independent of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The primary mechanism for this protective effect is belie Read More

Plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and its major apolipoprotein (apo), apo A-I, are inversely correlated with the incidence of ischemic cardiovascular diseases. Till now, evaluation of the hypothesis that elevation of HDL cholesterol reduces atherosclerotic burden and/or decreases ischemic cardiovascular events in humans has been hampered by the lack of drugs that selectively increase HDL cholesterol. Read More