High density lipoprotein-anionic peptide factor effect on reverse cholesterol transport in type 2 diabetic patients with and without coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVES: To verify if HDL3 Anionic Peptide Factor (HDL3-APF) is as an apolipoprotein that promotes the reverse cholesterol transport. DESIGN AND METHODS: We investigated a possible association between plasma HDL3-APF concentration, cholesterol efflux from Fu5AH cells and cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity in type 2 diabetic patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) (n=36), those without CAD (n=20), and 37 healthy subjects. RESULTS: Plasma APF concentrations were decreased in diabetics with CAD compared to controls (p<0.01). Cellular cholesterol efflux was decreased in diabetics without and with CAD, (p<0.01 and p<0.001 respectively). CETP activity was significantly elevated in all patient groups. Multiple linear regression analysis shows that cholesterol efflux was independently and positively related only to APF concentrations in controls. CONCLUSIONS: APF is likely to be a key independent factor for promoting cellular cholesterol efflux in healthy subjects. However this association is altered in type 2 diabetes.