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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2001;21:1.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Lipoprotein(a) and Atherosclerosis

Shun Ishibashi

From the Department of Metabolic Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

Correspondence to Shun Ishibashi, MD, PhD, Department of Metabolic Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. E-mail ishibash-tky@umin.ac.jp

Key Words: lipoprotein(a) • apolipoprotein(a) • atherosclerosis • transgenic • rabbit

Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is composed of 1 particle of LDL attached to apo(a), a glycoprotein that has striking homology to plasminogen and tremendous size heterogeneity owing to the presence of multiple repeats of plasminogen-like kringle 4 modules (see References 1 and 2^{1 2} for a review). Since Lp(a) was discovered by Berg, numerous cross-sectional and prospective studies have revealed associations between high plasma levels of Lp(a) and atherosclerotic vascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease and stroke (see References 1 and 3^{1 3} for a review). Although several pathogenic roles for Lp(a) have been proposed, it has not been completely elucidated how high Lp(a) levels are associated with vascular diseases. Transgenic animal models give invaluable means to provide answers to the intractable question of whether high Lp(a) causes atherosclerosis and not vice versa. Lawn and colleagues⁴ first reported the generation of apo(a) transgenic mice in 1992. Fatty streak lesion formation in the aortic sinus of these mice was substantially increased compared with that of the nontransgenic controls when fed an atherogenic diet. However, another laboratory failed to reproduce the atherogenic effects of the overexpressed apo(a) with or without the overexpressed human apoB-100, even though the same transgene was used.^{5 6} It may be possible that a certain strain of mouse is resistant to the atherogenic effects of apo(a). In this context, apo(a) transgenic rabbits have emerged as an alternative model in which the atherogenicity of apo(a) as well as that of Lp(a) can be reasonably reevaluated. Recently, 2 lines of apo(a) transgenic rabbits have . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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