Atherogenic
Lipoprotein Profile in Families with and without
History of Early Myocardial Infarction
1M.
DOBIÁŠOVÁ, 2K. RAŠLOVÁ, 1H.
RAUCHOVÁ, 2B. VOHNOUT, 1K.
PTÁČKOVÁ, 3J. FROHLICH
1Institute
of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic, Prague, Czech Republic,
2Institute of
Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Bratislava,
Slovak Republic,
3Healthy Heart
Program/Lipid Clinic, St Paul's Hospital and
Department of Pathology and Laboratory of
Medicine, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Received
December 1, 1999
Accepted May 14, 2000
Summary
In
this study we compared several parameters
characterizing differences in the lipoprotein
profile between members of families with a
positive or negative family history of coronary
artery disease (CAD). In addition to regular
parameters such as the body mass index (BMI),
total plasma cholesterol (TC), low density
(LDL-C) and high density (HDL-C) cholesterol and
triglycerides (TG) we estimated the fractional
esterification rate of cholesterol in apoB
lipoprotein-depleted plasma (FERHDL) which
reflects HDL and LDL particle size distribution.
A prevalence of smaller particles for the
atherogenic profile of plasma lipoproteins is
typical. Log (TG/HDL-C) as a newly established
atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) was calculated
and correlated with other parameters. The cohort
in the study consisted of 29 young (< 54 years
old) male survivors of myocardial infarction
(MI), their spouses and at least one offspring
(MI group; n=116). The control group consisted of
29 apparently healthy men with no family history
of premature CAD in three generations, their
spouses and at least one offspring (control
group; n=124). MI families had significantly
higher BMI than the controls, with the exception
of spouses. Plasma TC did not significantly
differ between MI and the controls. MI spouses
had significantly higher TG. Higher LDL-C had MI
survivors only, while lower HDL-C had both MI
survivors and their spouses compared to the
controls. FERHDL was significantly higher in all
the MI subgroups (probands 25.85±1.22, spouses
21.55±2.05, their daughters 16.93±1.18 and sons
19.05±1.33 %/h) compared to their respective
controls (men 20.80±1.52, spouses 14.70±0.98,
daughters 13.23±0.74, sons 15.7±0.76 %/h,
p<0.01 to p<0.05). Log (TG/HDL-C) ranged
from negative values in control subjects to
positive values in MI probands. High correlation
between FERHDL and Log (TG/HDL-C) (r = 0.80,
p<0.0001) confirmed close interactions among
TG, HDL-C and cholesterol esterification rate.
The finding of significantly higher values of
FERHDL and Log (TG/HDL-C) indicate higher
incidence of atherogenic lipoprotein phenotype in
members of MI families. The possibility that, in
addition to genetic factors, a shared environment
likely contributes to the familial aggregation of
CAD risk factors is supported by a significant
correlation of the FERHDL values within spousal
pairs (control pairs: r = 0.51 p<0.01, MI
pairs: r = 0.41 p<0.05).
Key words
Cholesterol
esterification rate (FERHDL) · Atherosclerosis
· Spouses · Offspring · Log (TG/HDL
cholesterol)
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RNDr.
Milada Dobiášová, CSc. Institute of
Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic, Vídeňská 1083, 142 20 Prague 4,
Czech Republic. Fax: +420 2 475 2488, e-mail: dobias@biomed.cas.cz
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