Re: Lifelong Reduction in LDL Cholesterol Markedly Cuts Risk of Coronary Events

On Sat, 25 Mar 2006 00:02:41 GMT, "Ozgirl"
<are_we_there_yet@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/528360

"NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 23 - Long-term reductions in
LDL cholesterol levels can reduce the risk of coronary heart
disease (CHD) by as much as 88%, new research suggests. The
findings also indicate a possible new target for
lipid-lowering therapy."

Really need to read the whole article.

Maybe this will help.

First, in the report it says:

"the researchers looked at the risk of CHD events in nearly
13,000 subjects enrolled in the Atherosclerosis Risk in
Communities study. The subjects were followed for 15 years
and were divided into two groups based on whether they had
sequence variants in a gene called PCSK9, which have been
linked to low LDL cholesterol levels."

So, actually, it's not LDL directly that they are
discussing, but PCSK9.

Further in the text:

"Among black subjects, 2.6% had nonsense mutations in PCSK9,
which were associated with a 28% reduction in LDL
cholesterol levels and with an 88% reduced risk of CHD
events.

The rate of PCSK9 sequence variations among white subjects
was 3.2% and was associated with a 15% drop in LDL
cholesterol and with a 47% reduced risk of CHD."

I haven't yet found their original report on white subjects.
However, some searching found this abstract on the black
subjects:

http://tinyurl.com/fvg24
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/354/12/1264?maxtoshow=&HITS=&hits=&RESULTFORMAT=1&author1=Hobbs&andorexacttitle=and&fulltext=PCSK9&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&fdate=1/1/2005&resourcetype=HWCIT

Sequence Variations in PCSK9, Low LDL, and Protection
against Coronary Heart Disease
Jonathan C. Cohen, Ph.D., Eric Boerwinkle, Ph.D., Thomas H.
Mosley, Jr., Ph.D., and Helen H. Hobbs, M.D.

"Methods We compared the incidence of CHD (myocardial
infarction, fatal CHD, or coronary revascularization) over a
15-year interval in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities
study according to the presence or absence of sequence
variants in the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type
9 serine protease gene (PCSK9) that are associated with
reduced plasma levels of LDL cholesterol."

The abstract does not make it clear what the relationship
(or "association") is between PCSK9 and LDL, nor does it
give any detail on whether they then go into detail of that
relationship with the various LDL particles variations which
may be related to, say, a variation in the trigs/HDL ratio.

Maybe someone here has access to the NEJM full version. I'll
not get too worried about my LDL yet based on this.

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.
d&e, metformin 2x500mg
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.
.

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