Genetic factors can determine the high variability observed in response to lipid-lowering therapy with statins. Nonetheless, the frequency of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and their impact can vary due to ethnicity. Because the Chilean population carries a strong Amerindian background, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of apolipoprotein E (APOE) variants (rs4293...

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) results from defective low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) activity, mainly due to LDLR gene defects. Of the many different LDLR mutations found in patients with FH, about 6% of single base substitutions are located near or within introns, and are predicted to result in exon skipping, retention of an intron, or activation of cryptic sites during mRNA splic...

Diet-induced changes in serum lipoproteins are a major risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis, the leading cause of mortality in Westernized countries. Atherosclerosis is now appreciated to be a systemic inflammatory disease where increased synthesis of inducible proteins by the liver, such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and others, may play roles in accelerating the disease process. T...

The proximal section of the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of LDL receptor (LDLR) mRNA contains important regulatory sequences that control the messenger stability and mediate the cholesterol-lowering drug berberine (BBR)-induced increase in LDLR mRNA half-life. In the present study, we examined whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within this region cause a predisposition to the deve...

BACKGROUND Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a major risk for coronary heart disease, is predominantly associated with mutations in the genes encoding the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and its ligand apolipoprotein B (APOB). RESULTS In this study, we characterize the spectrum of mutations causing FH in 2239 Czech probands suspected to have FH. In this set, we found 265 patients (1...

Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is hypothesized to mediate lipoprotein clearance by binding to two receptors: (i) the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and (ii) a chylomicron remnant receptor. To test this hypothesis, we have compared plasma lipoproteins in mice that are homozygous for targeted disruptions of the genes for apoE [apoE(-/-)], the LDLR [LDLR(-/-)], and both molecules [poE(-/-); LDLR...

OBJECTIVE Natural killer (NK) cells have been identified in human vascular pathologies. In this study, we identified NK cells in aortic root atherosclerotic lesions of low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-deficient (LDLr-/-) mice. To characterize the role of NK cell-mediated cytolysis in atherosclerosis, we generated C57Bl/6 double-mutant mice by crossing LDLr-/- mice with NK cell-defective L...

We investigated systolic dysfunction by the use of biochemical laboratory tests and perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography imaging in 32 Pakistani subjects exhibiting symptoms of this disorder. To investigate underlying genetic causes, such as familial hypercholesterolemia, DNA samples from these subjects were screened by PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing to detect changes in the low de...

Elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations are independent risk factors for coronary heart disease. We have previously demonstrated that overexpression of an enzyme with a well established role in HDL metabolism, lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT), in New Zealand White rabbits not only raises HDL-C concen...