Influence of cyclosporine on low-density lipoprotein uptake in human lymphocytes

Endovascular abdominal aortic stenosis treatment alleviates renal failure after kidney transplantation

A 79-year-old man developed bilateral intermittent claudication. Peritoneal dialysis had been initiated at 55 years of age to manage chronic renal failure. In addition, he underwent kidney transplantation at 61 years of age. His Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) was 0.82 and 0.71 for the right leg and left leg, respectively. Furthermore, his serum creatinine level had increased from 0.98 mg/dL to 2.38 mg/dL over the past 2 years. CT angiography revealed focal calcified stenosis in the terminal abdominal aorta. However, ultrasound revealed no significant stenotic lesion in the supplied artery bound to the transplanted kidney from the right external iliac artery. We performed endovascular therapy for abdominal aortic stenosis using the pressure gradient. Following the procedure, the patient's symptoms disappeared and the ABI increased to 1.25 and 1.14 in the right leg and left leg, respectively. Furthermore, the serum creatinine level improved to 0.96 mg/dL.

Conditional GWAS revealing genetic impacts of lifestyle behaviors on low-density lipoprotein (LDL)

BACKGROUND

Accumulation of LDL cholesterol (LDL-c) within artery walls is strongly associated with the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis development. This complex trait is affected by multifactor involving polygenes, environments, and their interactions. Uncovering genetic architecture of LDL may help to increase the understanding of the genetic mechanism of cardiovascular diseases.

METHODS

We used a genetic model to analyze genetic effects including additive, dominance, epistasis, and ethnic interactions for data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Three lifestyle behaviors (reading, intentional exercising, smoking) were used as cofactor in conditional models.

RESULTS

We identified 156 genetic effects of 10 quantitative trait SNPs (QTSs) in base model and three conditional models. The total estimated heritability of these genetic effects was approximately 72.88% in the base model. Five genes (CELSR2, MARK2, ADAMTS12, PFDN4, and MAGI2) have biological functions related to LDL.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared with the based model LDL, the results in three conditional models revealed that intentional exercising and smoking could have impacts for causing and suppressing some of genetic effects and influence the levels of LDL. Furthermore, these two lifestyles could have different genetic effects for each ethnic group on a specific QTS. As most of the heritability in based model LDL and conditional model LDL|Smk was contributed from epistasis effects, our result indicated that epistasis effects played important roles in determining LDL levels. Our study provided useful insight into the biological mechanisms underlying regulation of LDL and might help in the discovery of novel therapeutic targets for cardiovascular disease.

Chemistory of Fibrates

Since the description of the synthetic chemical clofibrate in 1962, various derivatives of fibrates with a diversity of chemical structures have been developed. Several of these are used clinically to treat dyslipidemia because they are generally effective in lowering elevated plasma triglycerides and cholesterol. Studies suggest that several biochemical mechanisms underlie fibrate-mediated modulation of lipoprotein and related metabolites. These mechanisms are: 1) induced lipoprotein lipolysis; 2) induced hepatic fatty acid uptake and reduced hepatic triglyceride formation; 3) amplified removal of low density lipoprotein (LDL) particles; 4) reduced neutral lipid (cholesteryl ester and triglyceride) exchange between very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) resulting from decreased plasma levels of triglyceride-rich lipoprotein (TRL); and 5) increased HDL production and stimulation of reverse cholesterol transport. Recent studies of structure-based inhibitor design strategy revealed that an independent enzyme, aldose reductase (AR), is a target of fibrate activity, an additional biochemical mechanism. AR has been implicated as a major player in the development of diabetes and diabetic complications because of its ability to catalyze the conversion of glucose to sorbitol. This article discusses various targets of fibrate action, biochemical pathways and commonalities in potential molecular interactions.