vitamin e supplement blocks the response of hdl to lovastatin therapy in hypercholestrolemic patients

hdl can prevent ldl-c oxidation. the low hdl-c state also may benefit clinically from supplemented antioxidant. this study was designed to evaluate the combination therapy of statin and vitamin e in hypercholesterolemic patients. the patients were randomized in a clinical trial aimed to avaluate the effect of vitamin e and/or statin.the life style of patients didn't alter during intervention. the subjects were randomized to two treatment groups a and b: (1) lovastatin 20mg daily at bedtime. (group a); (2) vitamin e 400 iu daily plus lovastatin 20 mg daily (group b). the lipid values of each patients at baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment were compared by paired t test. the mean baseline lipid levels for 60 subjects were as follows: plasma cholesterol, triglyceride, ldl-c and hdl-c 285 ± 68, 268 ± 121, 158 ± 32, 49 ± 11 mg/dl respectively. serum lipid levels changes in group a (statin only) and in group b (statin and vitamin e) were statistically significant. in comparison of lipid profiles changes between two groups we observed that hdl-c changes in group b were significantly lower than in group a. vitamin e supplement blocks the respons of hdl-c to lovastatin therapy in hypercholestrolemic patients.