Spotlight on HDL biology: New insights in metabolism, function, and translation

摘要

High-density lipoproteins (HDLs) have captured the imagination of scientists and physicians from virtually the time they were originally described, but especially after the cholesterol carried in HDL (HDL-C) was shown to be strongly and inversely associated with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).1 This observation, replicated in many populations around the world, has led to the popular view of HDL-C as the 'good cholesterol' and to the belief that intervention to raise plasma levels of HDL-C would lead to reduction in risk of CHD (the 'HDL hypothesis'). Because of its obvious clinical relevance, the structure, function, metabolism, and regulation of HDL has been studied in great detail by hundreds of laboratories around the world. The science and biology of HDL is a mature field that has been informed by structural biology, lipid and protein biochemistry, model systems, human genetics and physiology, and pharmacology. Although much has been learned, there remain major questions surrounding HDL, not the least of which includes recent scepticism about the fundamental HDL hypothesis.