Cholesterol in human atherosclerotic plaque is a marker for underlying disease state and plaque vulnerability

Lipids in Health and Disease

Research

Marina Ichetovkin¹  Zhu Chen¹  Marc Kurtz¹  Eric Hailman¹  Andrew S Plump¹  Xuanmin He²  Douglas Kawka³  Emanuel Zycband³  John Woods³ 

[1] Cardiovascular Diseases, Merck Research Laboratories, 126 E. Lincoln Ave., 07065, Rahway, NJ, USA;FoxHollow Technologies Division, EV3 Inc., 740 Bay Road, 94063, Redwood City, CA, USA;Target Validation, Merck Research Laboratories, 126 E. Lincoln Ave., 07065, Rahway, NJ, USA;

关键词: Cholesterol;    Cholesteryl Ester;    Free Cholesterol;    Carotid Plaque;    Plaque Vulnerability;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1476-511X-9-61

 received in 2010-04-28, accepted in 2010-06-11,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCholesterol deposition in arterial wall drives atherosclerosis. The key goal of this study was to examine the relationship between plaque cholesterol content and patient characteristics that typically associate with disease state and lesion vulnerability. Quantitative assays for free cholesterol, cholesteryl ester, triglyceride, and protein markers in atherosclerotic plaque were established and applied to plaque samples from multiple patients and arterial beds (Carotid and peripheral arteries; 98 lesions in total).ResultsWe observed a lower cholesterol level in restenotic than primary peripheral plaque. We observed a trend toward a higher level in symptomatic than asymptomatic carotid plaque. Peripheral plaque from a group of well-managed diabetic patients displayed a weak trend of more free cholesterol deposition than plaque from non-diabetic patients. Plaque triglyceride content exhibited less difference in the same comparisons. We also measured cholesterol in multiple segments within one carotid plaque sample, and found that cholesterol content positively correlated with markers of plaque vulnerability, and negatively correlated with stability markers.ConclusionsOur results offer important biological validation of cholesterol as a key lipid marker for plaque severity. Results also suggest cholesterol is a more sensitive plaque marker than routine histological staining for neutral lipids.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Chen et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010