Structure and Biologic Roles of Lipoprotein (a) and Its Clinical Implications
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: In the past few years, a significant proportion of previously unrecognized risks of atherosclerot ic coronary artery disease has been accounted for by lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)]. It was first identified as an antigenic trait in human plasma by Berg in 1963 (1). For many years this lipoprotein was considered a variant of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and of little interest for clinicians (2). Later it was found that Lp(a) is a lipoprotein that is similar to LDL in terms of lipid and protein composition, but also contains a highly glycosylated protein designated apolipoprotein (a) [apo(a)], that is linked through a disulfide bridge to apolipoprotein (apo) B100 (3). Now it has become clear that Lp(a) is not simply a variant of LDL, as was once thought, but is immunochemica lly and physicochemically distinct even though Lp(a) has apo B100 in common with LDL. One of the distinctive structural features of apo(a) is triple looped cysteine-linked amino-acid domains called kringles, which have considerable homology to similar domains within plasminogen (4). Lp(a) may provide a link between the clotting and lipoprotein systems. In case control studies it is shown that Lp(a) is associated with coronary artery disease (5,6). A lot of similar investigations and prospective studies have confirmed this observation (712). There are also several reports linking high levels of Lp(a) with cerebrovascular disease (13), peripheral vascular disease (14), and restenosis of coronary bypass grafts (15). In this review we will focus on structural and possible biological roles of Lp(a) and its clinical implications.
Author: Abdurrahman Çömlekçi
Institution: Dokuz Eylül University
Language: English
Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6715521