Relationship between Apolipoprotein E Genotype and Lipoprotein Profile in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease.

(1) Background: Apolipoprotein E(ApoE) plays a critical role in lipid transport. The specific allele of APOE being expressed is associated with the development of coronary heart disease (CHD), however the specific mechanisms by which ApoE drives disease are unclear. In this study, we investigated the relationship between APOE allele, lipoprotein metabolome, and CHD severity to provide evidence for the efficacy of clinical cholesterol-lowering therapy; (2) Methods: Blood samples were collected from 360 patients with CHD that were actively being treated with statins. The lipoprotein profile, including particle numbers, particle size, and lipoprotein composition concentrates, was measured by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The severity of CHD was determined by quantifying coronary angiography results using the Gensini scoring system; (3) Results: We found there was no significant difference in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels among ε2+ (ε2 allele carriers, consisting of ε2/ε2 and ε2/ε3 genotypes), ε3 (consisting of ε3/ε3 and ε2/ε4 genotypes), and ε4+ (ε4 allele carriers, consisting of ε3/ε4 and ε4/ε4 genotypes) participants receiving statin treatment. Compared with the ε3 group, patients with the ε2+ genotype showed lower concentrations of total low-density lipoprotein (LDL), small-LDL, and middle-LDL particles, as well as a larger LDL size, higher very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) composition concentrates, and higher intermediate density lipoprotein (IDL) composition concentrates. The ε4+ group showed higher concentrations of total LDL, small LDL particles, and LDL compositions with smaller LDL size. The higher level of small LDL concentration was associated with a high Gensini score (B = 0.058, p = 0.024). Compared with the ε3 group, the risk of increased branch lesions in the ε2+ group was lower (OR = 0.416, p = 0.027); (4) Conclusions: The specific allele of APOE being expressed can affect the severity of CHD by altering components of the lipoprotein profile, such as the concentration of small LDL and LDL size.

Evaluation of a novel high sensitivity cardiac troponin I assay with whole blood.

BACKGROUND: High-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays provide high sensitivity detection of myocardial injury. Although an assay using whole blood can reduce turn-around-time and labour, hs-cTn assays using whole blood samples are novel requiring characterization of their analytical performance. METHODS: The imprecision of Pylon hs-cTnI assay was evaluated with whole blood, plasma and commercial quality control samples. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) of whole blood samples and plasma were determined for the Pylon hs-cTnI assay. The correlation between the Pylon hs-cTnI assay and the Abbott Architect hs-cTnI assay was evaluated using whole blood samples and plasma. RESULTS: The average concentrations of pooled patient plasma were 8.3, 15.0 and 396.9 ng/l, while the corresponding CVs of repeatability and within-laboratory CVs were calculated respectively as 7.6% and 9.9%, 4.3% and 4.5%, and 3.3% and 4.5%. LOQ (20% CV) was 1.2 ng/l in plasma and 2.0 ng/l in whole blood. The lowest concentrations to reach 10% CV were 4.8 ng/l with plasma and 9.4 ng/l with whole blood. Quantification of whole blood and corresponding plasma samples correlated with no effect by hematocrits ranging from 25 to 44%. CONCLUSION: The analytical performance of the Pylon hs-cTnI assay with whole blood is comparable to that of a clinical lab instrument.