Ultra bad cholesterol

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMay 29 2011

Researchers have discovered “ultra-bad” cholesterol in some patients and the discovery can be important for treating heart disease.

Bad cholesterol, known as LDL is known to be sticky but this ultra –bad called MGmin-LDL is found to be stickier meaning it's more likely to attach to arterial walls. This is more dangerous because when LDL attaches to artery walls it forms fatty plaques that cause coronary heart disease (CHD). As fatty plaques grow, they narrow the arteries and reduce blood flow and also may trigger a stroke or heart attack. CHD is the most common type of heart disease and kills almost 450,000 Americans each year.

They researchers say that being elderly and/or having type 2 diabetes makes it more likely to have ultra-bad cholesterol. Dr Shannon Amoils, research adviser at the British Heart Foundation, said in a written statement, “This study shows how the make-up and the shape of a type of LDL cholesterol found in diabetics could make it more harmful than other types of LDL…The findings provide one possible explanation for the increased risk of coronary heart disease in people with diabetes.”

For the study the team created MGmin-LDL in a lab through glycation, which is the adding of sugar groups to normal LDL cholesterol. The process changed the cholesterol's shape, making it stickier and more likely to build fatty plaques, narrow arteries and reduce blood flow and turning it into what they called "ultra-bad" cholesterol.

The study also shows how type 2 diabetes drug metformin fights heart disease. Scientists are hopeful the findings can lead to even better treatments down the road. “The next challenge is to tackle this more dangerous type of cholesterol with treatments that could help neutralize its harmful effects on patients' arteries,” lead author Dr. Naila Rabbani, associate professor of experimental systems biology at Warwick Medical School, said in the statement.

The research was published in the May 26 issue of Diabetes. In the study was funded by the British Heart Foundation and conducted by the University of Warwick researchers.