Relationship between cholesterol synthesis/absorption marker and vascular function in healthy subjects

Abstract

Recently, inhibition of absorbed cholesterol has been reported to reduce the recurrence of vascular events in patients with acute coronary syndrome. However, the effect of absorbed cholesterol on atherosclerosis in healthy subjects remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between cholesterol synthesis and absorption biomarkers, and vascular elasticity or morphological changes in healthy subjects. Methods: Among 580 subjects who underwent a complete medical checkup between 2012 and 2015, 256 healthy subjects (male/female: 161/95; mean age, 55 10 years) who did not receive any medication were included in the present study. We measured blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose level, lipid parameters, lathosterol level (cholesterol synthesis marker), and campesterol level (cholesterol absorption marker). We then analyzed the relationship between these measured values and vascular elasticity (cardio-ankle vascular index [CAVI]) or carotid arterial plaque score (CAPS). Results: The CAVI and CAPS significantly correlated with the campesterol-tolathosterol ratio (CAVI; r=-0.20, p=0.015; CAPS; r=-0.16, p=0.023). Multivariate analysis of conventional atherosclerotic factors and campesterol-to-lathosterol ratio for CAVI and CAPS as the objective variables showed that age, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein-to-high-density lipoprotein ratio, and campesterol-to-lathosterol ratio were the significant determining factors for CAVI, and age and campesterol-to-lathosterol ratio were the determining factors for CAPS. Discussion: We found that absorbed cholesterol is closely related to vascular elasticity and morphological changes, and that a higher balance of absorption could induce favorable effects on atherosclerosis in healthy subjects. These findings might propose new nutritional guidance for healthy subjects.

Serum Values of Cholesterol Absorption and Synthesis Biomarkers in Japanese Healthy Subjects: The CACHE Study HEALTHY Analysis

“…The positively skewed distributions of Latho, Campe, and Sito concentrations of this study from Japan agreed with the results of Dayspring et al 12) from the US. Ishibashi et al 9) and Yoshida et al 14) also reported serum levels of Latho, Campe, and Sito in than in males. No significant interaction by sex was found in the association of the LDL-C/HDL-C ratio with Latho, Campe, or Sito.…”

“…Subjects with cardiovascular disease revealed higher levels of absorption biomarkers and lower levels of synthesis biomarkers than controls 4,5) . As reviewed previously 6) , many studies, but not all [7][8][9][10][11] , showed that increased levels of cholesterol absorption biomarkers were associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Therefore, knowledge of an individual's cholesterol absorption and synthesis status could help in the stratification of cardiovascular risk.…”

“…Serum or plasma levels of these biomarkers in "healthy" populations have been reported and are summarized in Supplemental Table 1 5,9,[12][13][14] . However, criteria for the selection of subjects were different among studies, leading to different study populations and different results.…”