Multiple modified low density lipoprotein in diabetes mellitus

Abstract

A premature onset and rapid progression of atherosclerosis is a characteristic feature of diabetes mellitus. Cardiovascular events remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. The deposition of intracellular cholesterol in the vessel wall is a typical feature of early atherosclerotic lesion at the cellular level. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) is believed to be the source of accumulating intracellular lipids, and LDL demands to be chemically modified in some way to provide atherogenic effect. This paper summarizes the recent findings on low density lipoprotein (LDL) atherogenic modifications in diabetic patients. LDL from diabetic patients, unlike LDL from healthy subjects, caused a significant increase in cholesterol content of cells cultured from unaffected human aortic intima, i.e. produced a direct atherogenic effect. The results of the study have shown that in vivo modified atherogenic LDL subfraction in the blood of diabetic patients is represented by small, dense, more electronegative, desialylated and glycated LDL.