Dyslipidaemias and cardiovascular diseases: beyond cholesterol and atherosclerotic plaques

Association between blood lipid levels and risk of gastric cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

The association between blood lipid levels and the risk of gastric cancer (GC) is well known. Therefore, to clarify this association, all relevant prospective cohort studies were included in this meta-analysis.

METHODS

Our study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022354899) prior to its commencement. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted in accordance with the PRISMA recommendations. Chinese databases (CNKI, CBM, Wanfang, and VIP) and English databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library) were systematically searched up to October 2022. This study included all relevant cohort studies that reported hazard ratios (HRs) or relative risks (RRs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) to examine the association between various lipid profiles (e.g., total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) and the risk of developing gastric cancer (GC). Fixed effects or random effects models were used based on the level of heterogeneity among the studies, and these models were employed to obtain pooled hazard ratios. Additionally, sensitivity analysis and publication bias analysis were conducted to ensure the robustness and reliability of the findings.

RESULTS

After conducting a systematic search, a total of 10 studies were selected out of 10,525 papers involving a total of 5,564,520 individuals. Among these individuals, there were 41,408 GC cases. The analysis revealed that the highest versus lowest serum total cholesterol (TC) concentration was associated with a pooled hazard ratio of 0.89 (95% CI = 0.87-0.92, I2 = 15%). For triglycerides (TGs), the hazard ratio was 1.00 (95% CI = 0.96-1.04, I2 = 37%), while for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), the hazard ratio was 0.90 (95% CI = 0.86-0.93, I2 = 0%). The hazard ratio for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was 0.96 (95% CI = 0.91-1.00, I2 = 0%).

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results of this meta-analysis, it was found that serum TC and HDL-C levels were inversely correlated with the risk of GC. No association was observed between serum TG levels and the risk of GC. Similarly, no association was found between serum LDL-C levels and the risk of GC.

Development of synthetic lipoxin-A4 mimetics (sLXms): New avenues in the treatment of cardio-metabolic diseases

Resolution of inflammation is a complex, dynamic process consisting of several distinct processes, including inhibition of endothelial activation and leukocyte trafficking; promotion of inflammatory cell apoptosis and subsequent non-phlogistic scavenging and degradation; augmentation of pathogen phagocytosis; modulation of stromal cell phenotype coupled to the promotion of tissue regeneration and repair. Among these tightly regulated processes, the clearance and degradation of apoptotic cells without eliciting an inflammatory response is a crucial allostatic mechanism vital to developmental processes, host defence, and the effective resolution of inflammation. These efferocytic and subsequent effero-metabolism processes can be carried out by professional and non-professional phagocytes. Defective removal or inadequate processing of apoptotic cells leads to persistent unresolved inflammation, which may promote insidious pathologies including scarring, fibrosis, and eventual organ failure. In this manuscript, the well-established role of endothelial activation and leukocyte extravasation, as classical vascular targets of the 'inflammation pharmacology', will be briefly reviewed. The main focus of this work is to bring attention to a less explored aspect of the 'resolution pharmacology', aimed at tackling defective efferocytosis and inefficient effero-metabolism, as key targeted mechanisms to prevent or pre-empt vascular complications in cardio-metabolic diseases. Despite the use of gold standard lipid-lowering drugs or glucose-lowering drugs, none of them are able to tackle the so called residual inflammatory risk and/or the metabolic memory. In this review, the development of synthetic mimetics of endogenous mediators of inflammation is highlighted. Such molecules finely tune key components across the whole inflammatory process, amongst various other novel therapeutic paradigms that have emerged over the past decade, including anti-inflammatory therapy. More specifically, FPR2-agonists in general, and Lipoxin analogues in particular, greatly enhance the reprogramming and cross-talk between classical and non-classical innate immune cells, thus inducing both termination of the pro-inflammatory state as well as promoting the subsequent resolving phase, which represent pivotal mechanisms in inflammatory cardio-metabolic diseases.

Maternal dyslipidemia and altered cholesterol metabolism in early pregnancy as a risk factor for small for gestational age neonates

We evaluated the relationship between maternal cholesterol levels and its biologically active precursors and metabolites in the first trimester and subsequent risk for small-for-gestational-age birthweight (SGA). This is a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study which enrolled healthy singleton pregnancies (n = 1337). Maternal fasting blood was taken in the first trimester and followed up till delivery. The lipid parameters were compared between women who delivered SGA neonates (SGA-group, birthweight < 10th percentile, n = 107) and women who did not (non-SGA-group, n = 1230). In addition, metabolic signatures of cholesterol were evaluated in a subset consisting of propensity-score matched SGA (n = 56) and control group (n = 56). Among lipid parameters, maternal high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were significantly lower in SGA-group than in non-SGA-group (p = 0.022). The risk for SGA was negatively correlated with maternal serum HDL-C quartiles (p = 0.003), and this association remained significant after adjustment for confounding variables. In metabolic signatures of cholesterol, the cholesterol/lathosterol ratio in SGA-group was significantly higher than non-SGA-group [(2.7 (1.6-3.7) vs. 2.1 (1.5-2.9), respectively; p = 0.034)], suggesting increased endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis. We demonstrated that dyslipidemia and increased cholesterol biosynthesis led to delivery of SGA neonates even in early pregnancy.