Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 17, Issue 9, 2011

Atherosclerotic vascular disease is the most prevalent medical condition in Western societies and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. One of the most important factors for atherogenesis is the low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol. The review articles included in this issue, authored by international experts in the field, are aiming to summarize in a multidisciplinary manner the current knowledge on th Read More

Lowering low density lipoprotein (LDL) - cholesterol is one of the key issues in modern preventive cardiology by which we are able to interact with the natural course of atherosclerosis. Diet and healthy life style are mandatory for the treatment of CAD high risk patients. Numerous lipid lowering trials confirmed the beneficial effect of statins in primary as well as secondary prevention. By this statins are the basic treatment in pati Read More

Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) are atherogenic and represent a strong cardiovascular risk factor. Therefore, LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) remains the primary target in lipid lowering therapy. However, since many cardiovascular events occur despite an optimal LDL-C, it is necessary to focus on the remaining cardiovascular risk. Treatment of low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and high triglycerides (TG) are options to ac Read More

Elevated levels of lipoprotein(a) are causally related to premature atherosclerosis. It is therefore of interested to evaluate by which treatment modalities elevated lipoprotein(a) levels can be decreased. With the exception of niacin, currently available lipidmodifying drugs have only little effect on lipoprotein(a) levels. Niacin can decrease lipoprotein(a) concentration in a dose dependent fashion by approximately 20-30%. Read More

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death among elderly patients and >80% of all coronary deaths occur in patients >65 years. Cerebrovascular events are also associated with older age. Since elevated cholesterol concentrations are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, lipid-lowering drugs, especially statins, are in widespread use for prevention. There is substantial underutilization of statins in the elderly Read More

Cardiovascular disease is the most prevalent cause of death in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), even at an early stage of the disease and is considered a coronary heart disease risk equivalent. Therefore, therapeutic efforts to control modifiable additional cardiovascular risk factors such as dyslipidemia in this population seems reasonable. Indeed, abnormalities of lipid metabolism are often encountered in pa Read More

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogeneous syndrome characterized by oligo- or anovulation, clinical and/or biochemical signs of hyperandrogenemia and polycystic ovaries. Clinical expression is determined by both genetic and environmental factors. Dyslipidemia is very common in lean as well as in obese women with PCOS and should be considered in the therapeutic management of the syndrome. Addit Read More

Plant sterols and stanols are naturally occurring constituents of plants and as such normal components of our daily diet. The consumption of foods enriched in plant sterols and stanols may help to reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations. Meta-analyses have shown that consuming approximately 2.5 g plant sterols or stanols per day lowers serum LDL-C concentrations up to 10%, with little additional bene Read More

Dyslipidemia and vascular calcification are important predictors of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Vitamin D may have an influence on these two CVD risk markers. We performed a systematic review on vitamin D, dyslipidemia, statins, vascular calcification and CVD. The vast majority of intervention studies did not show an effect of vitamin D on serum cholesterol levels. There is however evidence for a triglyceride-lowerin Read More

Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is involved in the synthesis of very low density lipoprotein in the liver. Its deficiency results in abetalipoproteinemia. MTP inhibitors target the assembly and secretion of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins. These agents may potentially play a role, alone or in combination, in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia or hypertriglyceridemia. Clinical applications of MTP inhibi Read More

New studies further demonstrate that lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, at least with the use of statins, decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Subsequently national and international guidelines have set target levels for LDLcholesterol that are progressively lower, making the likelihood of patients attaining them progressively more limited, even with the use of all currently available medicatio Read More