Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase as a possible diagnostic tool in ischemic heart disease.

Basal values of lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) were estimated in healthy subjects, in patients with the so-called risk ischemic heart diseases (IHD)--obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipoproteinemia II--and in patients with a IHD-infarction of the myocardium. A precise method employing a 14C-4-cholesterol-labeled common normolipidemic substrate was used. A highly significant difference in the average values of LCAT activity between healthy men and women was found. LCAT in men with 'risk' diseases decreased, while in women it remained at the level of the reference group. To assess the dependence between LCAT-dependent indicators and IHD, criteria for evaluating the deviations from reference values were proposed. The number of deviations from the reference group increased in the sequence: obesity, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipoproteinemia, and the infarction of the myocardium.