The impact of statin treatment on the abnormal plasma lipidome of mixed dyslipidemic patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS), a group at increased risk of developing diabetes, was evaluated. Insulin-resistant hypertriglyceridemic hypertensive obese males (n = 12) displaying MetS were treated with pitavastatin (4 mg/day) for 180 days; healthy normolipidemic age-matched nonobese males (n = 12) acted as controls. Statin treatment substantially normalized triglyceride (−41%), remnant cholesterol (−55%), and LDL-cholesterol (−39%), with minor effect on HDL-cholesterol (+4%). Lipidomic analysis, normalized to nonHDL-cholesterol in order to probe statin-induced differences in molecular composition independently of reduction in plasma cholesterol, revealed increment in 132 of 138 lipid species that were subnormal at baseline and significantly shifted toward the control group on statin treatment. Increment in alkyl- and alkenylphospholipids (plasmalogens) was prominent, and consistent with significant statin-induced increase in plasma polyunsaturated fatty acid levels. Comparison of the statin-mediated lipidomic changes in MetS with the abnormal plasma lipidomic profile characteristic of prediabetes and T2D in the Australian Diabetes, Obesity, and Lifestyle Study and San Antonio Family Heart Study cohorts by hypergeometric analysis revealed a significant shift toward the lipid profile of controls, indicative of a marked trend toward a normolipidemic phenotype. Pitavastatin attenuated the abnormal plasma lipidome of MetS patients typical of prediabetes and T2D.
Atherogenic LDL particles are physicochemically and metabolically heterogeneous. Can bioactive lipid cargo differentiate LDL subclasses, and thus potential atherogenicity? What is the effect of statin treatment? Obese hypertriglyceridemic hypercholesterolemic males [n = 12; lipoprotein (a) <10 mg/dl] received pitavastatin calcium (4 mg/day) for 180 days in a single-phase unblinded study. The lipidomic profiles (23 lipid classes) of five LDL subclasses fractionated from baseline and post-statin plasmas were determined by LC-MS. At baseline and on statin treatment, very small dense LDL (LDL5) was preferentially enriched (up to 3-fold) in specific lysophospholipids {LPC, lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI), lysoalkylphosphatidylcholine [LPC(O)]; 9, 0.2, and 0.14 mol per mole of apoB, respectively; all P < 0.001 vs. LDL1-4}, suggesting elevated inflammatory potential per particle. In contrast, lysophosphatidylethanolamine was uniformly distributed among LDL subclasses. Statin treatment markedly reduced absolute plasma concentrations of all LDL subclasses (up to 33.5%), including LPC, LPI, and LPC(O) contents (up to −52%), consistent with reduction in cardiovascular risk. Despite such reductions, lipotoxic ceramide load per particle in LDL1-5 (1.5–3 mol per mole of apoB; 3–7 mmol per mole of PC) was either conserved or elevated. Bioactive lipids may constitute biomarkers for the cardiometabolic risk associated with specific LDL subclasses in atherogenic dyslipidemia at baseline, and with residual risk on statin therapy.
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