[Remnant lipoprotein cholesterol level measured by homogeneous assay reflects the quantity of intermediate-density...

Remnant lipoprotein can be measured by immunoseparation assay and polyacrylamide gel disc electrophoresis; however, these methods have some problems, such as a lack of specificity and being technically complicated. Recently, a new method, the remnant lipoprotein cholesterol homogeneous assay(RemL-C), has been established. In this study, we evaluated the basal performance of RemL-C assay. One hundred and fifty patients with diabetes mellitus were enrolled in this study. RemL-C level was higher in the midband (+) group than in the midband (-) group (p<0.01), and a strong correlation was observed between RemL-C level and remnant lipoprotein level measured by conventional method (r=0.89, p<0.01). RemL-C level correlated positively with triglyceride(TG) (r=0.94, p<0.01) and total cholesterol(TC) (r=0.39, p<0.01), negatively with high density lipoprotein(HDL-C) (r=-0.35, p<0.01) and positively with apolipoprotein (apo) CII, and apoE (apoCII: r=0.59, p<0.01, apoE: r=0.71, p<0.01). In particular, RemL-C level correlated strongly with TG and apoE. RemL-C level was significantly higher in patients with combined hyperlipidemia compared to patients with other hyperlipidemias (p<0.01). When the serum of a patient with combined hyperlipidemia was separated by sepharose 4B gel filtration, the fraction showing peak RemL-C level was observed between the fraction corresponding to VLDL and the fraction corresponding to LDL. Furthermore, the peak of RemL-C corresponded to the peak of apoE. Moreover RemL-C level correlated negatively with preheparin serum lipoprotein lipase mass that is a marker of metabolic syndrome (r=-0.30, p<0.01). These results suggest that the measurement of remnant lipoprotein by RemL-C assay reflects the quantity of intermediate-density lipoprotein. Since RemL-C measurement can be run on an automated clinical analyzer permitting quick and high throughput measurement, RemL-C levels may be useful in the screening of hyperlipidemia.