Circulating immune complexes and low density lipoproteins--a molecular complex or the summation of the atherogenic risk of two separate entities?

The correlation between the circulating immune complexes (CIC) and dyslipidemia was studied in a group of 150 patients with acute ischemic stroke and 50 normal controls. The object of the study was also to find out whether these two components represent a macromolecular complex with increased atherogenic capacity or only two risk factors acting separately but achieving a summation of their atherogenic power. It can be considered that in acute ischemic stroke the presence of the two risk factors constitutes a condition of acceleration of the atherogenic process, i.e., the appearance of the vascular accident. The decrease of HDL-cholesterol detected in all the subgroups studied is probably due to the decrease of the cholesterol "reverse transport" process which favours the atherogenic process. It was found that CIC and low density lipoproteins (LDL) are risk factors which act separately determining by the effects they generate a summation of their atherogenic capacity. Cholesterol and triglycerides apparently contained in the CIC structure, can be considered as a methodologic artefact due to the use of a common reagent (PEG-6000).