Lippi G, Guidi G
Istituto di Chimica e Microscopia Clinica, Università degli Studi di Verona, Ospedale Policlinico, Verona, Italy.
QJM. 2000 Feb;93(2):75-84. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/93.2.75.
We review current concepts regarding the genetic, structural and metabolic features of lipoprotein(a), a major inherited cardiovascular pathogen. Although lipoprotein(a) is almost completely confined to a subset of primates, the hedgehog produces a lipoprotein(a)-like complex, which appears to have evolved independently from that of humans. The physiological role of lipoprotein(a) in humans is still unclear, and individuals with low or null concentrations of plasma lipoprotein(a) manifest no deficiency syndrome or disease. The integration of recent discoveries about the structure and metabolism of this unique lipoprotein particle has allowed the formulation of some hypotheses concerning the evolutionary advantages of synthesizing lipoprotein(a)-like particles.
我们回顾了关于脂蛋白(a)的遗传、结构和代谢特征的当前概念，脂蛋白(a)是一种主要的遗传性心血管致病原。尽管脂蛋白(a)几乎完全局限于灵长类动物的一个亚群，但刺猬产生一种脂蛋白(a)样复合物，其似乎是独立于人类的脂蛋白(a)进化而来。脂蛋白(a)在人类中的生理作用仍不清楚，血浆脂蛋白(a)浓度低或无的个体未表现出缺乏综合征或疾病。对这种独特脂蛋白颗粒的结构和代谢的最新发现进行整合，有助于提出一些关于合成脂蛋白(a)样颗粒的进化优势的假说。
