Study on cholesteryl ester transfer activity in coronary heart disease.

The net cholesterol transfer activity from high density lipoprotein (HDL) to low density lipoprotein (LDL) was determined in the patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) to examine its effect on the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis. Furthermore, in the CHD patients with high HDL cholesterolemia (more than 60 mg/dl), the HDL particle size was measured by high performance liquid chromatography. A significant cholesteryl ester transfer activity (P less than 0.02) was noted in the CHD patients with low HDL cholesterolemia (less than 60 mg/dl). The rate of cholesteryl ester transfer activity (cholesteryl ester transfer activity/hour) inversely correlated with the serum HDL cholesterol value (r = -0.483, P = 0.096) in the patients with CHD. These results suggest that an increase of CETA caused a low HDL cholesterol value in the CHD patients with low HDL cholesterolemia and it may have the risk of causing CHD. However, an increase of the CETA was not found in the CHD patients with high HDL cholesterolemia compared to the normal subjects, the HDL particle size being significantly greater than that in the normal subjects. In the CHD patients with high HDL cholesterolemia, the large size of HDL may have the risk of causing CHD.