Mathematical Modelling of Material Transfer to High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) upon Triglyceride Lipolysis by Lipoprotein Lipase: Relevance to Cardioprotective Role of HDL

Leptin Rs7799039 polymorphism is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus Egyptian patients

BACKGROUND

Leptin (LEP) is an anti-obesity hormone that regulates food intake, energy expenditure, and glucose metabolism. The genetic variants in LEP and the LEP receptor (LEPR) gene may play an important role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity. The current study aimed to investigate the association of serum LEP levels, and LEP polymorphisms in LEP (rs7799039, 2548 G/A) with T2DM in Egyptian patients.

METHODS

A total of 205 subjects were included in the present case-control study, consisting of 100 T2DM patients and 105 healthy controls. The anthropometric, psychometric, and biochemical measurements were taken from all the subjects. The genotyping of LEP gene variants was carried out by polymerase chain reaction TaqMan technology. Serum LEP levels were measured by the ELISA technique.

RESULTS

T2DM patients had significantly elevated levels of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting blood sugar (FBS), postprandial blood sugar (PPBS), international normalisation ratio (INR), creatinine, urea, cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and significantly decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) compared to healthy subjects. serum LEP levels were significantly decreased p (<0.001) as compared to the control group. LEP gene SNP rs7799039 was associated with an increased diabetic risk with A allele being more frequent in T2DM patients than control subjects. The distribution of the AA genotype and GA genotype of LEP SNP rs7799039 was higher in the diabetic group than control one. In addition, AA + GA genotype carriers had significantly elevated HbA1c, FBS, PPBS, TG, and LDL levels and on the contrary, decreased serum LEP levels compared to GG homozygotes.

CONCLUSION

The genetic polymorphism rs7799039 showed a highly significant correlation with blood LEP. The co-dominant and dominant models of the LEP genetic polymorphism (rs7799039, 2548 G/A) were shown to have a significant correlation with complicated and uncomplicated diabetes individuals, but we have found that serum LEP levels were inversely related with control and diabetes patients. A positive significant association was found between LEP genetic polymorphism (rs7799039, 2548 G/A) and serum LEP in patients and controls. LEP levels and its rs7799039 genetic variant may play a vital role in increasing T2DM susceptibility.

Depleting LCAT Aggravates Atherosclerosis in LDLR-deficient Hamster with Reduced LDL-Cholesterol Level

INTRODUCTION

Lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) plays a crucial role in acyl-esterifying cholesterol in plasma, which is essential for reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). Previous studies indicated that its activity on both α and β lipoproteins interpret its effects on lipoproteins for many controversial investigations of atherosclerosis.

OBJECTIVES

To better understand the relationship between LCAT, diet-induced dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis, we developed a double knockout (LCAT-/-&LDLR-/-, DKO) hamster model to evaluate the specific role of LCAT independent of LDL clearance effects.

METHODS

Plasma triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), and free cholesterol (FC) levels were measured using biochemical reagent kits. FPLC was performed to analyze the components of lipoproteins. Apolipoprotein content was assessed using western blotting (WB). The hamsters were fed a high cholesterol/high fat diet (HCHFD) to induce atherosclerosis. Oil Red O staining was employed to detect plaque formation. Peritoneal macrophages were studied to investigate the effects of LCAT on cholesterol uptake and efflux.

RESULTS

On HCHFD, DKO hamsters exhibited significantly elevated levels of TG and FC, while HDL-C was nearly undetectable without affecting TC levels, as compared to low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR)-deficient (LDLR-/-, LKO) hamsters. Lipoprotein profiling revealed a marked increase in plasma chylomicron/very low-density lipoprotein (CM/VLDL) fractions, along with an unexpected reduction in LDL fraction in DKO hamsters. Furthermore, DKO hamsters displayed aggravated atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta, aortic root, and coronary artery relative to LKO hamsters, attributed to a pro-atherogenic lipoprotein profile and impaired cholesterol efflux in macrophages.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrates the beneficial role of LCAT in inhibiting atherosclerotic development and highlights the distinctive lipid metabolism characteristics in hamsters with familial hypercholesterolemia.

Increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes and its correlates: a cross-sectional, matched case-control survey

BACKGROUND

So far, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels and mortality were shown to have a U-shaped relationship. Additionally, high HDL-C levels increase the risk of developing a variety of diseases. However, a paucity of data exists regarding the characteristics of people with high HDL-C levels. The aim of this study was to assess the demographics and characteristics of patients with high HDL-C levels and compare their features with normal and low HDL-C groups.

METHODS

As a cross-sectional, matched case-control study, a total of 510 patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) were enrolled in the study and categorized into three matched groups according to their HDL-C concentrations. The studied groups were matched by their age and gender. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) curves were designed to evaluate the relationship between height, blood pressure, triglyceride, and vitamin D concentrations with the probability of having high HDL-C levels. Furthermore, violin plots were conducted to illustrate the distribution of continuous variables within each group.

RESULTS

This study showed that having high HDL-C (more than 70 mg/dL) compared to having low HDL-C (less than 40 mg/dL in men and 50 mg/dL in women) was significantly associated with height (OR 0.918, 95% CI 0.866-0.974), systolic blood pressure (SBP) (0.941, 0.910-0.972), vitamin D (0.970, 0.941-0.999), and triglyceride (0.992, 0.987-0.998) serum concentrations. Further analysis investigated that having high HDL-C levels compared to desired HDL-C levels (40 ≤ HDL-C levels < 70 in men and 50 ≤ HDL-C levels < 70 in women) was inversely associated with having SPB values greater than 130 mmHg. Besides, sufficient vitamin D levels (above 20 ng/ml) could 0.349 times decrease the odds of having high HDL-C versus normal HDL-C levels.

CONCLUSION

Sufficient vitamin D levels, SPB values higher than 130 mmHg, as well as increased triglyceride levels, were inversely associated with having high HDL levels. However, higher height values were associated with a decreased likelihood of having high HDL.

Serum remnant cholesterol is a potential predictor of liver stiffness in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

BACKGROUND

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with dyslipidemia, and the connection between dyslipidemia and remnant cholesterol (RC), a component of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, remains enigmatic.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, our primary aim was to investigate the role of RC in the progression of NAFLD and to provide robust evidence of RC's involvement in the pathogenesis of NAFLD. We enrolled 2800 NAFLD patients from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Logistic regression was employed to examine the relationship between serum RC levels and liver stiffness, while receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess the diagnostic capability of RC.

RESULTS

RC exhibited an independent correlation with the extent of liver stiffness, with odds ratios (OR) of 1.02 for liver steatosis (p = 0.014) and 1.02 for liver fibrosis (p = 0.014). To predict NAFLD, the optimal RC thresholds were 17.25 mg/dL for males and 15.25 mg/dL for females in the case of liver steatosis. For advanced liver fibrosis, the best thresholds were 17.25 mg/dL for males and 16.25 mg/dL for females.

CONCLUSIONS

RC demonstrated a positive correlation with the degree of liver stiffness and exhibited superior diagnostic efficacy for liver steatosis and fibrosis compared to other cholesterol indicators.