LOW HDL-CHOLESTEROL – AN IMPORTANT RISK FACTOR FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES

Autori:

Željko Reiner, Diana Muačević-Katanec, Davor Katanec, Eugenia Tedeschi-Reiner

Sažetak

Sažetak. Već je odavno poznato da je koncentracija HDL-kolesterola u krvi obrnuto razmjerna riziku od kardiovaskularnih bolesti (KVB) te da je sniženi HDL-kolesterol neovisni čimbenik rizika od KVB. Svrha je ovoga preglednog članka razjasniti ulogu HDL-čestica i važnost HDL-kolesterola. Podrobno su raspravljene glavne protuaterosklerotske uloge HDL-čestica – obrnuti prijenos kolesterola, njihova protuoksidacijska, protuupalna, protutrombotska i protuapoptotska svojstva, ali i uloga u poboljšanju funkcije endotela. Objašnjena je uloga promjene nezdravog načina života u povišenju koncentracije HDL-kolesterola, poglavito važnost redovite tjelesne aktivnosti i aerobne tjelovježbe, prestanka pušenja, smanjenja tjelesne težine u onih u kojih je prekomjerna, kao i prehrane, ali i umjerenog unosa alkohola s naglaskom na činjenicu da su HDL-čestice alkoholičara izmijenjene funkcije, tj. ne djeluju protuaterogeno. To valja naglasiti stoga što je dokazano da nije važna samo količina HDL-čestica, pa onda i HDL-kolesterola u krvi, već da je važna i njihova funkcija, osobito ako je izmijenjena. HDL-čestice u bolesnika s dijabetesom također gube neka protuaterogena svojstva, a u bolesnika s dijabetesom tipa 2 česta je pojava upravo aterogena dislipidemija obilježena smanjenom količinom HDL-kolesterola i povišenim trigliceridima u krvi. Bolesnici s dijabetesom koji imaju takvu dislipidemiju imaju posebno velik rizik od KVB, a rezultati novijih ispitivanja kao što je primjerice ACCORD-Lipid, upućuju da bi liječenje takvog poremećaja lipida u njih bilo osobito korisno. Na temelju objavljenih rezultata kliničkih ispitivanja raspravljaju se mogućnosti liječenja fibratima, posebice fenofibratom, ali i nijacinom te kombinacijama tih lijekova i drugih lijekova za dislipidemije.

Summary

Summary. It has been known for quite a long time that the concentration of HDL-cholesterol correlates inversely with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and that low HDL-cholesterol is an independent CVD risk factor. This review aims to highlight evidence on several topics concerning the role of HDL particles and the importance of HDL-cholesterol. The main antiatherogenic functions of HDL particles are presented in details – reverse cholesterol transport, but also their anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic and anti-apoptotic properties as well as endothelial stabilizing and repair properties. Lifestyle management of low HDL-cholesterol is explained, particularly physical activity and aerobic exercise, smoking cessation, weight reduction in the overweight individuals and composition of the diet but also moderate alcohol consumption stressing the fact that HDL particles from alcoholics are dysfunctional. This is important since it has been shown that it is not only the quantity of HDL particles, and thus HDL-cholesterol level in plasma, that matters, but their quality and impaired functionality as well. HDL from diabetic subjects also lose some of their antiatherogenic properties but a common feature of patients with diabetes type 2 is atherogenic dyslipidemia which is characterized exactly by low HDL-cholesterol and high triglycerides. Diabetic patients with such dyslipidemia are at particularly high CVD risk and the results of recent studies such as ACCORD-Lipid suggest that in them treatment of these lipid abnormalities may be beneficial. Treatment options with fibrates, particularly fenofibrate, and niacin are discussed based upon published trials, as well as combination therapy with these medicines and other lipid-lowering drugs.