Serum sialic acid and acute-phase proteins in hypertriglyceridaemic patients showing the Frederickson's type IIB...

1. We have shown that serum total sialic acid is elevated in hypertriglyceridaemic patients showing the Frederickson's type IIB phenotype in comparison with normal subjects (2.30 +/- 0.34 versus 1.92 +/- 0.32 mmol/l, P < 0.02). Lipid-associated sialic acid was also elevated in the hypertriglyceridaemic group in comparison with the normal subjects (0.60 +/- 0.09 versus 0.35 +/- 0.04 mmol/l, P < 0.001). 2. We measured five serum acute-phase proteins in the hypertriglyceridaemic patients and the normal subjects, namely alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, alpha 2-macroglobulin, C-reactive protein and haptoglobin. Serum alpha 2-macroglobulin was significantly elevated in the hypertriglyceridaemic patients compared with the normal subjects (2.1 +/- 1.0 versus 1.5 +/- 0.55 g/l, P < 0.05) as was serum C-reactive protein (5.9 +/- 3.5 versus 3.5 +/- 1.9 mg/l, P < 0.05). There were, however, no significant differences in the serum concentrations of alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein or haptoglobin between the two groups. 3. There was a significant correlation between serum total sialic acid and serum alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein and haptoglobin (Spearman correlation coefficients 0.74, 0.50 and 0.76, respectively) in the normal subjects, and there was a significant correlation between serum total sialic acid and serum alpha 1-antichymotrypsin and alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (Spearman correlation coefficients 0.72 and 0.84, respectively) in the hypertriglyceridaemic patients.