High-density lipoprotein cholesterol and phospholipids, and apoprotein A in serum of patients with liver disease.

Concentrations of apoprotein A in whole serum, and cholesterol and phospholipids concentrations in the high-density lipoprotein fraction of serum were measured after the precipitation of low-density and very-low-density lipoproteins with sodium phosphotungstate-Mg2+ in 23 patients with liver cirrhosis, 19 patients with extrahepatic biliary obstruction, and 20 healthy control subjects. Patients with cirrhosis and cholestasis showed approximately one-half as much cholesterol and apoprotein A in the nonprecipitable high-density lipoprotein fraction as normal subjects did. High-density lipoprotein phospholipids concentrations in those patients were normal or slightly increased, however, which is about double what one would expect from the apoprotein A and cholesterol content.