Another Cholesterol-Lowering Variant that Reduces Heart Disease Risk, but This One Has Unfortunate Side Effects

In recent years, researchers have discovered a number of human gene variants or mutations that significantly lower blood cholesterol, and this also the risk of heart disease, such as DSCAML1, ANGPTL4, and ASGR1. Why does this work? Oxidized cholesterol contributes to the development of atherosclerosis with advancing age, by causing macrophages to falter in their work of removing cholesterol from blood vessel walls, become inflammatory, transform into foam cells, and die, leaving debris that grows the lesions the cells are trying to repair. Reducing overall cholesterol works because it reduces oxidized cholesterol as well. Yet this business of reducing blood cholesterol is unfortunately far from the most efficient way to tackle atherosclerosis. It can only slow it down, and not produce significant reversal of existing fatty lesions in blood vessel walls. Nonetheless, when lowered cholesterol levels are in place for the entire lifespan rather than just as a result of statin drugs in later life, and there is a considerable prevention effect, then effect sizes can be quite large. Sadly, the mutation in APOB noted here has unpleasant side-effects that make this gene and its protein a less desirable target for therapy than the others mentioned above. A new study finds that protein-truncating variants in the apolipoprotein B (APOB) gene are linked to lower triglyceride and LDL cholesterol levels, and lower the risk of coronary heart disease by 72 percent. Protein-tru...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs