New Tool to Combat Heart Disease

Although still the leading cause of death in the United States, the mortality rate from coronary heart disease has been decreasing over the past 50 years (Figure 1). The rate of decrease has accelerated since 1980, and it has been estimated that approximately 50% of the change can be attributed to better therapy [E.S. Ford, et al. (2007) New Eng. J. Med., 356, 2388]. One of the most successful approaches to the treatment of heart disease has been the use of the statin class of cholesterol lowering agents. These drugs have proven highly effective at reducing serum total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol”) levels, primarily by blocking cholesterol synthesis. However, these drugs do little to help remove excess cholesterol from the body. Thus levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol), which result from transport of the lipid from peripheral tissues back to the liver, are usually not raised by statin treatment. Now, Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology (VICB) member Charles Hong, his collaborator Aloke Finn (Division of Cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA), and their laboratories have found a novel approach to remove excess cholesterol from peripheral tissues and reduce atherosclerotic lesions in a mouse model of cardiovascular disease {(2011) O. Saeed et al., Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol., published online Nov. 17, DOI: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.111.240101].