The long journey of lipoprotein(a) from cardiovascular curiosity to therapeutic target.

ABSTRACT

Atherosclerosis, as the official journal of the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS), decided that it would be timely to publish a comprehensive collection of review articles on lipoprotein(a). Spanning the last decade or two, this lipoprotein has become a further target in the fight against atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. In that time, detailed knowledge about lipoprotein(a) has grown tremendously. Therefore, we decided not to have just one review article covering all aspects of lipoprotein(a), but rather to invite established experts in the field to write in-depth review articles on various aspects of lipoprotein(a). Collectively, these articles cover epidemiology, genetics, non-genetic influences, the influence of ethnicity, basic scientific investigations on the pathogenicity of lipoprotein(a), therapeutic developments to lower lipoprotein(a), and the challenging related to measurement of lipoprotein(a). The end result is a collection of 13 articles, which should be considered as the most comprehensive overview on the lipoprotein(a) field currently available. At the same time, the EAS invited the scientific community to submit original research papers in various areas of lipoprotein(a) research. This has resulted in an additional 15 articles that are part of an extended Atherosclerosis Special Issue along with the invited review articles.