Characteristics and clinical significance of lipid metabolism in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor

Background To investigate the characteristics and clinical significance of serum lipids in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). Methods The clinical and pathological data of 694 GIST patients in Liyuan hospital and Union hospital from 2012 to 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Blood lipid levels in patients with varying degrees of risk were compared. Results The findings showed that LDL-C, HDL-C, and CHOL increased significantly in women, and CD34 positive. In patients with tumors size less than 5 cm in diameter, TG, HDL-C, and CHOL were significantly higher. TG levels were significantly higher in DOG-1 (a marker and has a high specificity and sensitivity in the diagnosis of GIST) positive patients than in DOG-1 negative patients (P < 0.05). S-100 positive patients had lower HDL-C levels than S-100 negative patients (P < 0.05). Lipids indexes were found to be correlated with GIST risk stratification and tumor site (P < 0.05). TG/HDL-C was were significantly different among patients with GIST in different locations (P < 0.05). Conclusion The clinical and pathological characteristics of the patients with GIST are closely related to the level of blood lipids. To a certain extent, information about level of blood lipids can be helpful for distinguishing benign and malignant GIST.

Association of lncRNA PVT1 Gene Polymorphisms with the Risk of Essential Hypertension in Chinese Population

Vascular dysfunction and hyperlipidemia are essential risk factors contributing to essential hypertension (EH). The plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) is involved in modulating angiogenesis in tumor tissues and plays an important role in fat differentiation in the progress of obesity. Therefore, we selected two tagSNPs of PVT1 (rs10956390 and rs80177647) to investigate whether they are contributing to the risk of hypertension in Chinese patients. In total, 524 adult patients with EH and 439 matched healthy controls were enrolled for two central of China. Results. PVT1 rs10956390 and rs80177647 polymorphisms were genotyped by using TaqMan assay. PVT1 rs10956390 TT genotype was associated with a decreased risk of EH ( OR = 0.561 , 95% CI = 0.372 -0.846, P = 0.006 ), while rs80177647 TA genotype was associated with an increased risk ( OR = 2.236 , 95% CI = 1.515 -3.301, P < 0.001 ). Rs10956390 T allele was associated with lower triglyceride levels in the plasma both from healthy and EH donors. What is more, there is an association between rs10956390 polymorphism and HDL-C level, as well as LDL-C. Conclusion. PVT1 rs10956390 and rs80177647 polymorphisms may contribute to the risk of EH in Chinese population by regulating blood lipid levels.

Ferulic Acid Alleviates Atherosclerotic Plaques by Inhibiting VSMC Proliferation Through the NO/p21 Signaling pathway

The benefits and risks of inhibiting the proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in atherosclerosis (AS) remain a subject of debate. In this study, we investigated the effect of ferulic acid (FA) on the proliferation and migration of VSMCs induced by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and the associated mechanism and used ApoE-/- mice to study whether the effect of FA on VSMC proliferation and migration is beneficial in alleviating AS plaques. It was found that FA not only reduced blood lipid levels but also promoted the production of nitric oxide (NO) by MOVAS cells through the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) pathway, inhibited the migration and proliferation of VSMCs induced by PDGF, promoted the expression of p21 in VSMCs, and exerted a therapeutic effect against AS.

Dyslipidemia Awareness Campaign

Dyslipidemias are a group of disorders characterized by abnormal blood lipid levels, which can present with a different course and impair significantly the quality of life. In recent years, the disease has had a peak in its incidence being an entity poorly treated in clinical practice; thus, the purpose of this intervention was to create an awareness campaign in Instagram to educate the community about this condition. As a result, 20 posts were created, and an overall engagement of 112 followers showed that the objective was successfully achieved, and it is a growing area for extensive research in the context of future prevention and treatment.

Dietary Intake of Hydrolyzable Tannins and Condensed Tannins to Regulate Lipid Metabolism

Lipid metabolism disorder is a multifactor issue, which contributes to several serious health consequences, such as obesity, hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver etc. Tannins, applied as natural derived plant, are commonly used in the study of lipid metabolism disease with excellent safety and effectiveness, while producing less toxic and side effects. Meanwhile, recognition of the significance of dietary tannins in lipid metabolism disease prevention has increased. As suggested by existing evidence, dietary tannins can reduce lipid accumulation, block adipocyte differentiation, enhance antioxidant capacity, increase the content of short-chain fatty acids, and lower blood lipid levels, thus alleviating lipid metabolism disorder. This study is purposed to sum up and analyze plenty of documents on tannins, so as to provide the information required to assess the lipid metabolism of tannins.

Lipid-Associated Variants near ANGPTL3 and LPL Show Parent-of-Origin Specific Effects on Blood Lipid Levels and Obesity

Parent-of-origin effects (POE) and sex-specific parental effects have been reported for plasma lipid levels, and a strong relationship exists between dyslipidemia and obesity. We aim to explore whether genetic variants previously reported to have an association to lipid traits also show POE on blood lipid levels and obesity. Families from the Botnia cohort and the Hungarian Transdanubian Biobank (HTB) were genotyped for 12 SNPs, parental origin of alleles were inferred, and generalized estimating equations were modeled to assess parental-specific associations with lipid traits and obesity. POE were observed for the variants at the TMEM57, DOCK7/ANGPTL3, LPL, and APOA on lipid traits, the latter replicated in HTB. Sex-specific parental effects were also observed; variants at ANGPTL3/DOCK7 showed POE on lipid traits and obesity in daughters only, while those at LPL and TMEM57 showed POE on lipid traits in sons. Variants at LPL and DOCK7/ANGPTL3 showed POE on obesity-related traits in Botnia and HTB, and POE effects on obesity were seen to a higher degree in daughters. This highlights the need to include analysis of POEs in genetic studies of complex traits.

Implicating genes, pleiotropy and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multi-ancestry meta-analysis

Genetic variants within nearly 1,000 loci are known to contribute to modulation of blood lipid levels. However, the biological pathways underlying these associations are frequently unknown, limiting understanding of these findings and hindering downstream translational efforts such as drug target discovery. To expand our understanding of the underlying biological pathways and mechanisms controlling blood lipid levels, we leverage a large multi-ancestry meta-analysis (N=1,654,960) of blood lipids to prioritize putative causal genes for 2,286 lipid associations by combining six gene prediction methods and assigning a confidence score. We assign, most confidently, 118 candidate causal genes and identify potential drug targets including bona-fide (PCSK9) and putative (PNLIP and ARF6) genes. Using phenome-wide association (PheWAS) scans, we identify relationships of genetically-predicted lipid levels to other diseases and conditions. We confirm known pleiotropic associations with cardiovascular phenotypes and determine novel associations, notably with cholelithiasis risk. We perform sex-stratified GWAS meta-analysis of lipid levels and show that 3-5% of autosomal lipid-associated loci demonstrate sex-biased effects. Finally, we report 21 novel lipid loci identified on the X chromosome. Many of the sex-biased autosomal and X chromosome lipid loci show pleiotropic associations with sex hormones, emphasizing the role of hormone regulation in lipid metabolism. Taken together, our findings provide insights into the mechanisms through which associated variants lead to altered lipid levels and potentially cardiovascular disease risk.

Effects of Imperata cylindrica on Anti-hyperlipidemia: A Review

Imperata cylindrica is a well-known species of perennial rhizomatous grass native to tropical South East Asia, which possesses extensive medicinal value. It has major constituents such as saponin, flavonoid, phenols, and glycosides, efficacious as an anti-hyperlipidemia. Studies of pharmacological activities of I. cylindrica, a nutritious, medicinal herb, showed that it could cause blood lipid levels to be reduced. This systematic review article was designed to determine the existing studies related to the efficacy of I. cylindrica to lower blood lipid levels. PubMed and Scopus databases were used to search for suitable keywords such as Imperata cylindrica, cogongrass, hypolipidemic, triglyceride, cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). Based on provided protocol, in this systematic review, we extracted the data and evaluated the quality of articles by two reviewers. (4) Results 73 articles were the search results and based on the inclusions and exclusions criteria, 8 articles were included in the final review. These studies demonstrated that two active compounds of I. cylindrica: flavonoids and saponins, were beneficial to reduce blood lipid levels. However, further clinical studies are urgently required to provide adequate evidence on the use application of I. cylindrica in medicinal properties.

Serum Uric Acid to HDL-Cholesterol Ratio is Associated with New-Onset NAFLD in Lean Chinese People with Normal Blood Lipid Levels: a Longitudinal Cohort Study

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is commonly occurred in the non-obese individuals. The serum uric acid (UA) to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) ratio (UHR) is considered as a predictive factor of NAFLD. However, it is still difficult to confirm the correlation in lean Chinese people with normal blood lipid levels. It is aimed to analyze the correlation of UHR with NAFLD among lean Chinese population without dyslipidemia and compared UHR with other predictors in this study.Methods: 9838 lean people without NAFLD were included in a retrospective cohort study. NAFLD was diagnosed by liver ultrasound.Results: A total of 9,838 lean patients with normal blood lipid levels were included in the final study. During the five-year follow-up period, the overall prevalence of NAFLD was 8.7%. across the quintile 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of UHR, the prevalence of NAFLD among lean patients was increased from 2.4%, 5%, 7.9%, 10.3% to 17.8%. After adjustment for age, markers of liver and kidney function, gender and metabolic indicators, multivariate cox proportional hazard regression analysis demonstrated that the hazard ratio(HR) was 1.99(1.43-2.73) in highest UHR (quintile 5) compared with lowest UHR(quintile 1). The area under the curve(AUC) of UHR (0.690) was higher than in UA (0.666) and HDL-c (0.636), which showed that the predictive ability of the UHR to new-onset NAFLD was better than serum uric acid and HDL-c. Even within the normal range of UA and HDL-c levels, UHR was independently associated with NAFLD, and HR (95% confidence interva, 95%CI) for NAFLD in Quintile 5 of UHR was 6.74(4.32-10.53). Compared with other significant predictors, the AUC value of UHR(0.67) was similar to that of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-c)/HDL-c ratio(0.68), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (NHDL-c)/HDL-c ratio(0.68) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT)/ aspartate aminotransferase (AST) ratio(0.7), and superior to that of LDL-c (0.63), remnant cholesterol (RC,0.59), albumin(ALB)/alkaline phosphatase(ALP) ratio(0.61). The sensitivity of UHR (70.5%) was the highest among all indicators. In the subgroup of ALT, the AUC of UHR was 0.70, which was the highest among all predictors in subjects with ALT< 40. For subjects with elevated ALT levels (ALT > 40 U/L), there was no statistical significance among RC (P=0.441), ALB/ALP (P=0.419) and ALT/AST(P=0.159). In contrast, UHR's performance in predicting NAFLD was meaningful and reliable (AUC=0.61, p<0.001).Conclusions: UHR serve as an inexpensive and reliable predictor of NAFLD in lean Chinese people with normal blood lipid levels. It can be used to identify people at high risk of NAFLD.

Renal interstitial fibrosis is reduced in high-fat diet-induced obese pigs following renal denervation from the intima and adventitia of the renal artery

Background This study aims to compare whether two different routes of Renal denervation (RDN) from the intima and adventitia of the renal artery can reduce renal fibrosis in a pig model of hypertension induced by a high-fat diet and to explore possible molecular mechanisms. Methods Twenty-four Bama miniature pigs were randomly divided into a control group (normal diet, n=6) or a hypertension model group (high-fat diet, n=18). The model group was randomly divided into the intima-RDN group (n=6), the adventitia-RDN group (n=6), or the renal arteriography only group (sham group, n=6). All animals were fed separately. The model group was fed a high-fat diet after the operation, and the control group was fed conventionally for 6 months. After 6 months, renal artery angiography was performed again to observe the condition of the renal arteries, after which all animals were euthanized. The blood pressure (BP) and blood biochemical results of each group were evaluated 6 months after the operation; kidney tissue morphology and collagen fiber content were examined by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and Masson staining; Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content of kidney tissue were assessed by a biochemical enzyme method; the protein expression level of transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGF-β1), α smooth muscle actin (αSMA) and Smad3 were assessed by Western blot; and electron microscopy was used to examine changes in kidney microstructure. Results After 6 months of a high-fat diet, the blood lipid levels of the model group were significantly higher compared to baseline and to that of the control group during the same period (all showed P<0.05); the blood lipid levels of the control group did not change significantly from baseline (P>0.05). The degree of glomerular damage caused by hyperlipidemia in the intima-RDN group and the adventitia-RDN group was significantly lower than that of the sham and control groups, and the renal fibrosis area percentage was also significantly lower (P<0.05). Electron microscopy showed that both the intima-RDN group and the adventitia-RDN group had a more even distribution of chromosomes and less mitochondrial swelling compared with the sham group. Conclusion RDN from the adventitia of the renal artery and RDN from the intima of the renal artery have the similar advantages of delaying high fat-induced renal fibrosis. The anti-fibrotic effect of RDN may be related to inhibition of the TGF-β1/smad3 pathway.