Image : The Times Of India
High levels of so-called bad, or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol — which so many of us are trying to control with statin pharmaceuticals — are enabled by a component of fat tissue, Canadian researchers have discovered.
A substance secreted by fat tissue called resistin increases the bad cholesterol, or LDL, in our liver cells. The liver is less able to clear "bad" cholesterol from the body. Resistin speeds up LDL accumulating in our arteries, increasing the risk of heart disease.
To make matters worse, resistin adversely impacts the effects of statins, the main cholesterol-reducing drug used in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease. A staggering 40 per cent of people taking statins are resistant to their impact on lowering blood LDL, researchers say.
"The bigger implication of our results is that high blood resistin levels may be the cause of the inability of statins to lower patients' LDL cholesterol," said Shirya Rashid, MD, senior author of the study and assistant professor in the department of medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
Dr. Rashid said the discovery could lead to revolutionary new therapeutic drugs, especially those that target and inhibit resistin and thereby increase the effectiveness of statins.
31/10/2012 : Kathleen Struck / Everyday Health.
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