High Blood cholesterol

New advance announced in reducing ‘bad’ cholesterol

Scientists from the University of Leicester and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have announced a major advance towards developing drugs to tackle dangerous, or ‘bad’, cholesterol in the body.

They have filed two patents for developing targeted drugs that would act as a catalyst for lowering levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol.

Two research papers published by the academics enhance the understanding of the regulation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol.

LDL, the so-called “bad” cholesterol, is often linked to medical problems like heart disease, stroke and clogged arteries.

Cholesterol drugs safe, even after a decade of use

Cholesterol-lowering drugs continue to produce benefits without any serious safety problems, such as increased cancer risk, even after more than a decade of use, researchers said Wednesday.

The finding from a large British clinical study following patients for 11 years provides reassurance for people at risk of heart attacks who are typically prescribed such medicines indefinitely.

So-called statin drugs are not without side effects. They can cause nausea, muscle pain, and occasional kidney and liver damage.

But long-term follow-up in the 20,000-patient Heart Protection Study (HPS) found no evidence that statins increased the risk of non-vascular mortality or made patients more likely to develop cancer.

Green tea shows small effect on cholesterol

Green tea, in a cup or a capsule, may shave off a few points of your “bad” cholesterol, a new research review suggests.

Looking at 20 past clinical trials, researchers found that green tea trimmed 5 to 6 points more from people’s total cholesterol and “bad” LDL cholesterol levels than dummy capsules or other inactive treatments.

The trials tested either green tea itself or capsules containing green-tea compounds called catechins, which are thought to decrease cholesterol absorption in the gut.

In general, green tea in a cup was more consistently effective than capsules. But the benefits overall were fairly small.

Cleveland Clinic researcher reports that evacetrapib can increase HDL (good) cholesterol 128 percent

Researchers at Cleveland Clinic reported today that administration of a new drug– evacetrapib – can dramatically increase HDL (good) cholesterol, while significantly lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol). At the highest tested dosage, the levels of HDL more than doubled.

The study was presented today by lead investigator Stephen Nicholls MD PhD, Cardiovascular Director of the Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research (C5), at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Fla. The results of this Phase II clinical trial were simultaneously published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

There were initially 1154 patients screened at 70 site locations, with 398 patients randomized for the trial. Evacetrapib (500 mg) produced an HDL increase that ranged from 53.6 percent to 128.8 percent, while decreasing LDL by 13.6 percent to 35.9 percent. When combined with statin therapy, evacetrapib (100mg) increased HDL by 79.9 percent to 94 percent and further decreased LDL.

“In this study, evacetrapib was able to show striking increases in HDL while significantly lowering LDL,” said Dr. Nicholls. “The next step will be a large cardiovascular outcome trial to determine if this drug can reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.”

Targeting cholesterol to fight deadly brain cancers

Blocking the uptake of large amounts of cholesterol into brain cancer cells could provide a new strategy to battle glioblastoma, one of the most deadly malignancies, researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have found.

The study, done in cells lines, mouse models and analysis of tissue from brain cancer patients, uncovered a novel mechanism by which the most commonly activated oncogene, the mutated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), overcomes normal cell regulatory mechanisms to feed large amounts of cholesterol to the brain cancer cells, said Dr. Paul Mischel, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and molecular and medical pharmacology, a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher and senior author of the study.

The study appears Sept. 15 in Cancer Discovery, the newest peer-reviewed journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. It shows that EGFRvIII, common in glioblastoma, promotes the import of cholesterol into cancer cells by up-regulating its cellular receptor, the LDL receptor, promoting rapid tumor growth and survival.

Astra’s Crestor drug fails to beat Pfizer’s Lipitor

AstraZeneca Plc’s key cholesterol drug Crestor failed to beat Pfizer Inc’s Lipitor in a head-to-head clinical study, limiting any protection the British company will get as its U.S. rival faces competition from cheap generic copies.

Although imaging tests showed patients on Crestor had a greater reduction in the percentage of plaque clogging their heart arteries than those on Lipitor, the difference in this main goal of the study was not statistically significant, AstraZeneca said on Friday.

Crestor did show a significant improvement over Lipitor in a secondary endpoint of the trial, which used ultrasound to measure the condition of coronary arteries in around 1,300 patients.

Diet alone helps lower bad cholesterol: study

A diet based around plants, nuts and high-fiber grains lowered “bad” cholesterol more than a low-saturated-fat diet that was also vegetarian, researchers reported on Tuesday.

And the drop in low-density lipoprotein, or LDL cholesterol, was big enough that dietary changes could be an alternative to statin medications for many people, they said.

“There’s no question that statins have made a major difference in terms of cardiovascular disease control,” said study author Dr. David Jenkins, from the University of Toronto. But at least for now, he added, “we can only get so far with statins.”

‘Good’ cholesterol function as important as its levels

High levels of “good” cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) are associated with a decreased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) - a disease of the major arterial blood vessels that is one of the major causes of heart attack and stroke. This suggests that therapeutics that increase HDL levels could be clinically useful.

However, such therapies have not yielded clear-cut decreases in disease, indicating that the beneficial effects of HDL are likely not related simply to its abundance. More evidence to support this notion has now been provided by a team of researchers, led by Ulf Landmesser, at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, who found that HDL from patients with (CAD) had different effects on cells lining blood vessels than did HDL from healthy individuals. In particular, the HDL from patients with CAD was found to lack anti-inflammatory effects on blood vessel–lining cells and could not stimulate repair of the blood vessel lining.

As noted by the team and, in an accompanying commentary, Philip Shaul and Chieko Mineo, at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, these data indicate that if the protective potential of HDL is to be harnessed, its biological functions as well as its abundance must be considered.

Super-sticky ‘ultra-bad’ cholesterol revealed in people at high risk of heart disease

Scientists from the University of Warwick have discovered why a newly found form of cholesterol seems to be ‘ultra-bad’, leading to increased risk of heart disease. The discovery could lead to new treatments to prevent heart disease particularly in people with type 2 diabetes and the elderly.

The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), found that ‘ultrabad’ cholesterol, called MGmin-low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which is more common in people with type 2 diabetes and the elderly, appears to be ‘stickier’ than normal LDL. This makes it more likely to attach to the walls of arteries. When LDL attaches to artery walls it helps form the dangerous ‘fatty’ plaques’ that cause coronary heart disease (CHD).

CHD is the condition behind heart attacks, claiming 88,000 lives in the UK every year (1).

‘Good cholesterol’ structure identified, could help explain protective effects

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have determined the structure of human HDL cholesterol and say the finding could help explain how this “fat packet” protects against cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack and stroke.

The study, led by W. Sean Davidson, PhD, professor in UC’s pathology and laboratory medicine department, appears online ahead of print March 13, 2011, in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

HDL (high-density lipoproteins) also known as “good cholesterol,” are packets of protein and fat that deliver fat to specific locations within the body.