Report of the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2014, Chicago

Report of the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2016, New Orleans

The American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2016 were held on November 12-16 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA. This 5-day event featured cardiovascular clinical practice covering all aspects of basic, clinical, population, and translational content. One of the hot topics at AHA 2016 was precision medicine. The key presentations and highlights from the AHA Scientific Sessions 2016, including "precision medicine" as one of the hot topics, are herein reported.

Report of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions 2016, Chicago

The 65(th)Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) were held at McCormick Place, Chicago, from April 2-4, 2016. The ACC Scientific Sessions are one of the 2 major scientific cardiology meetings in the USA and one of the major scientific meetings of cardiology in the world. It had an attendance of 18,769 and over 2,000 oral and poster abstracts, including 8 late-breaking clinical trials. This report presents the key presentations and the highlights from the ACC Scientific Sessions 2016 in Chicago. (Circ J 2016; 80: 1308-1313).

Targeting PCSK9 as a promising new mechanism for lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol

Statins and other lipid-lowering drugs have dominated the market for many years for achievement of recommended levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). However, a substantial number of high-risk patients are unable to achieve the LDL-C goal. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 (PCSK9) has recently emerged as a new, promising key therapeutic target for hypercholesterolemia. PCSK9 is a protease involved in chaperoning the low-density lipoprotein receptor to the process of degradation. PCSK9 inhibitors and statins effectively lower LDL-C. The PCSK9 inhibitors decrease the degradation of the LDL receptors, whereas statins mainly interfere with the synthetic machinery of cholesterol by inhibiting the key rate limiting enzyme, the HMG CoA reductase. PCSK9 inhibitors are currently being developed as monoclonal antibodies for their primary use in lowering LDL-C. They may be especially useful for patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, who at present receive minimal benefit from traditional statin therapy. The monoclonal antibody PCSK9 inhibitors, recently granted FDA approval, show the most promising safety and efficacy profile compared to other, newer LDL-C lowering therapies. This review will primarily focus on the safety and efficacy of monoclonal antibody PCSK9 inhibitors in comparison to statins. The review will also address new, alternative PCSK9 targeting drug classes such as small molecules, gene silencing agents, apolipoprotein B antisense oligonucleotides, and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein inhibitors.

Dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease in women

Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death in women in developed countries. Dyslipidemia is highly prevalent in women, particularly after the menopause. Elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) has been identified as the key lipid parameter in both genders whereas HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides have been more closely associated, in some studies, with cardiovascular risk in women. Menopause has been shown to be associated with an increase in total and LDL-cholesterol and a decrease in HDL-cholesterol (predominantly in the HDL2 subfraction). Despite its beneficial effects on the lipid profile, hormone replacement therapy is not recommended for primary or secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in women. The latest meta-analysis of statin trials with gender-specific outcomes showed a similar benefit in women and men. The addition of ezetimibe to simvastatin in patients with acute coronary syndromes showed a further reduction of the primary endpoint in both genders. While there are no gender-related differences in drug treatment of dyslipidemia, current guidelines, to avoid overtreatment, strongly suggest risk estimation before initiating lipid-lowering treatment in women without manifest cardiovascular disease.

New Cholesterol Guidelines for the Management of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk: A Comparison of the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Cholesterol Guidelines with the 2014 National Lipid Association Recommendations for Patient-Centered Management of Dyslipidemia

This review discusses the 2013 American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) Guideline on the Treatment of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults and compares it with the 2014 National Lipid Association (NLA) Recommendations for Patient-Centered Management of Dyslipidemia. The review discusses some of the distinctions between the guidelines, including how to determine a patient's atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk, the role of lipoprotein treatment targets, the importance of moderate- and high-intensity statin therapy, and the use of nonstatin therapy in light of the IMProved Reduction of Outcomes: Vytorin Efficacy International Trial (IMPROVE-IT) trial.

Report of the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2015, Orlando

The American Heart Association Scientific Sessions were held in Orlando on November 7-15, 2015. The meeting attracted more than 18,000 participants, including physicians, research scientists, students, and paramedical personnel, from more than 100 countries. Sessions over the 5 days included a comprehensive and unparalleled education delivered via more than 5,000 presentations, with 1,000 invited faculty members and 4,000 abstract presentations from the world leaders in cardiovascular disease. It also displayed the newest cardiovascular technology and resources by more than 200 exhibitors. There were 19 trials scheduled in 6 late-breaking clinical trial sessions. The Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) aimed to determine the most appropriate targets for the systolic blood pressure among persons without diabetes. A total of 9,361 persons with systolic blood pressure of ≥130 mmHg and an increased cardiovascular risk, but without diabetes, were randomly assigned to a target systolic blood pressure of <120 mmHg (intensive treatment) or a target of <140 mmHg (standard treatment). A significantly lower rate of the primary composite outcome and all-cause mortality in the intensive-treatment group than in the standard-treatment group was observed. Summaries and overviews of the late-breaking trials, clinical science special report sessions, and sessions to which members of the Japanese Circulation Society contributed are presented.

European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress Report from London 2015

The Annual Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) was held in London from 29 August to 2 September 2015. It is the leading conference in cardiology in the world, with presentations on the latest scientific discoveries, innovations, technology, education, and clinical practices. More than 32,000 delegates and 5,000 exhibitors from 140 countries participated, sharing a number of scientific presentations, including 28 clinical hot lines, 18 clinical trial updates, 20 registry studies, 12 basic and translational science hot line studies, and 4,533 abstract studies. Japan had the highest number of accepted abstracts at the Congress, indicating the great contribution of Japanese scientists and the Japanese Circulation Society.

Profile of evolocumab and its potential in the treatment of hyperlipidemia

Despite the proven efficacy of statins, they often fail to achieve low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol goals, especially in high-risk patients. Moreover, a large number of subjects cannot tolerate statins or full doses of these drugs, in particular patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. Thus, there is a need for additional effective LDL cholesterol-reducing agents. Evolocumab (AMG145) is a monoclonal antibody inhibiting proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 that binds to the liver LDL receptor and prevents it from normal recycling by targeting it for degradation. Phase I, II, and III trials revealed that, on subcutaneous injection, either alone or in combination with statins, evolocumab is able to reduce high LDL cholesterol levels from 54% to 80%, apolipoprotein B100 from 31% to 61%, and lipoprotein(a) from 12% to 36%, in a dose-dependent manner. The incidence of side effects seems to be low and mainly limited to nasopharyngitis, injection site pain, arthralgia, and back pain. Evolocumab is an innovative powerful lipid-lowering drug, additive to statins and/or ezetimibe, with a large therapeutic range associated with a low rate of mild adverse events. If the available data are confirmed in long-term trials with strong outcome measures, evolocumab will become an essential tool in the treatment of a large number of high-risk patients, such as those affected by familial hypercholesterolemia, those who are unable to tolerate an efficacious statin dosage, and those at very high cardiovascular risk and unable to achieve their target LDL cholesterol levels with currently available lipid-lowering therapies.

Report of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions 2015, San Diego

The 64th Annual Scientific Sessions and Exposition of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) were held at the San Diego Convention Center from March 14-16, 2015. The ACC Scientific Sessions are 1 of 2 major scientific cardiology meetings in the United States, with nearly 20,000 attendees, including 15,000 cardiovascular professionals. There were over 2,100 oral and poster abstracts, and more than 15 late-breaking clinical trials (LBCTs) abstructs. This report presents the highlights and several key presentations, especially the LBCTs, from the ACC Scientific Sessions 2015. I hope this review will help cardiologists update to the latest information.

Novel insights on the treatment of hypercholesterolemia

The diagnosis of dyslipidemia is increasing both in adulthood and in childhood because of not only the steadily increasing prevalence of obesity but also a rise of medical attention in detecting unfavorable genetic conditions in patients of all ages. Attempts in lifestyle changes are frequently failing and thus the pharmacological treatment of dyslipidemia is spreading in medical practice to reduce cardiovascular risk. In childhood, statins are authorized by 8 years of age. Nevertheless, data on their long-term safety and efficacy are still lacking, especially in ones with high cardiovascular risk and/or primary dyslipidemia such as homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, considerable as a mainly exclusively pediatric disease. Thus, new pharmacological approaches are needed and have to be evaluated in all categories of patients. In this context, the update and the critical revision of new medications have become a new duty for scientists and clinicians.