Tangier disease: one explanation of lipid storage.

Normal high-density lipoproteins are absent from plasma in Tangier disease, and the disorder is characterized by accumulation of cholesteryl esters in several tissues, particularly those of the reticuloendothelial system. Electron microscopy of the abnormal high-density lipoproteins in the plasma of three patients with Tangier diseases revealed large (68-nm), flattened, translucent particles in all cases. These particles were most abundant in the plasma of the splenectomized patient. Restriction of dietary fat eliminated or drastically reduced the numbers of these particles among the Tangier high-density lipoproteins. Thus abnormal products of chylomicron metabolism that appear to occur in plasma in this disorder may be targets for phagocytosis and may be at least one source of the cholesteryl esters that accumulate in reticuloendothelial tissues in Tangier disease.