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Circulating oxidized LDL: determinants and association with brachial flow-mediated dilation

Leonard P van der Zwan1, Tom Teerlink, Jacqueline M Dekker

  • 1Metabolic Laboratory, Department of Clinical Chemistry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Journal of Lipid Research
|September 20, 2008
PubMed

Insights

The ratio of oxidized LDL to apolipoprotein-B100 is a better indicator of cardiovascular risk than oxidized LDL alone. Adjusting oxidized LDL for LDL particle number may improve its clinical use.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Research
  • Biochemistry
  • Clinical Medicine

Background:

  • Circulating oxidized LDL (oxLDL) is linked to cardiovascular risk, but its independent contribution is unclear due to strong correlations with LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c) and apolipoprotein-B100 (apoB100).
  • Disentangling the specific roles of oxLDL, LDL-c, and apoB100 in atherosclerosis is crucial for accurate risk assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the determinants of oxLDL levels.
  • To explore the relationship between oxLDL and brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), a functional measure of atherosclerosis.
  • To determine if oxLDL/LDL-c and oxLDL/apoB100 ratios offer greater insight into cardiovascular risk than individual markers.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional analysis of 624 participants (aged 50-87) from a population-based cohort study.
  • Measurement of plasma oxLDL, LDL-c, apoB100, and brachial artery FMD.
  • Statistical analysis to identify determinants of oxLDL and its association with FMD, adjusting for relevant covariates.

Main Results:

  • OxLDL strongly correlated with apoB100 (r=0.82) and LDL-c (r=0.67).
  • Independent determinants of oxLDL included sex, HDL-cholesterol, and LDL particle size.
  • LDL-c and apoB100 levels were not significantly associated with FMD.
  • The oxLDL/apoB100 ratio showed a significant negative association with FMD (P=0.017) after adjustments, while the oxLDL/LDL-c ratio showed a weaker association (P=0.062), and oxLDL alone showed no association (P=0.27).

Conclusions:

  • The oxLDL/apoB100 ratio, and to a lesser extent the oxLDL/LDL-c ratio, are associated with a functional measure of atherosclerosis (FMD), unlike oxLDL levels alone.
  • Correcting oxLDL for LDL particle number (apoB100) may enhance the clinical utility of oxLDL measurements in assessing cardiovascular risk.

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