Lipoprotein (a) and the evaluation of cardiovascular disease risk / 中华检验医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Lipoprotein (a) [Lp (a)] is an LDL-like molecule consisting of an apolipoprotein (B) [Apo (B)] particle attached by a disulphide bridge to apolipoprotein (a) [Apo (a)].Because of the LPA gene polymorphisms,there exists Lp (a) molecular heterogeneity in the human population.Recently,several observations have pointed out that elevated serum Lp (a) levels may be an independent risk factor of cardiovascular disease and an predictive indicator of cardiovascular disease.Recent findings suggest that Lp (a)-lowering therapy might be beneficial in patients with high Lp(a) levels.Currently,there are some problems in Lp(a) assay,including clinically diverse methods,the Lp (a) molecular heterogeneity between reference materials and test samples.Standardization of the Lp (a) reference reagents and measurement methods may be helpful for the wide application of Lp(a) in clinical medicine and be helpful for assuring the role of Lp(a) as an independent risk factor and predictive indicator of cardiovascular diseases.