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Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 1995;15:1064-1069

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Articles

Effects of Different Phenotypes of Hyperlipoproteinemia and of Treatment With Fibric Acid Derivatives on the Rates of Cholesterol 7{alpha}-Hydroxylation in Humans

Marco Bertolotti; Mauro Concari; Paola Loria; Nicola Abate; Adriano Pinetti; M. Eugenia Guicciardi; Nicola Carulli

From the Departments of Internal Medicine and Chemistry (A.P.), University of Modena, Italy.

Correspondence to Marco Bertolotti, MD, Istituto di Patologia Medica, Policlinico, Via del Pozzo, 71, 41100 Modena, Italy.


*    Abstract
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Abstract Little is known about the relationships between hyperlipidemia and bile acid metabolism. However, hypolipidemic treatment with fibric acid derivatives has been shown to increase biliary cholesterol secretion, presumably by reducing bile acid synthesis. To clarify such relationships, we investigated the effects of different hyperlipoproteinemic conditions and of treatment with fibric acid derivatives on the rates of cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation (the limiting step of bile acid synthesis) in humans. We studied 10 patients (aged 36 to 68 years) with lipoprotein phenotype IIa and with a clinical diagnosis of heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, a condition of reduced activity of LDL receptors, and 11 patients (aged 48 to 70 years) with lipoprotein phenotype IIb or IV and clinical diagnosis of familial combined hyperlipidemia, a condition probably related to increased hepatic lipoprotein synthesis. Cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates were assayed in vivo by tritium release assay after an intravenous injection of [7{alpha}-3H]cholesterol. The results were compared by ANOVA to the values obtained in a group of 28 normolipidemic patients (aged 34 to 83 years), with age as the covariate. Six patients were also studied after treatment with gemfibrozil (900 to 1200 mg/d for 6 to 8 weeks) and 5 patients were studied after treatment with bezafibrate (400 mg/d for 6 to 8 weeks). Hydroxylation rates were 0.82±0.22 mmol/d in the familial hypercholesterolemia group and 1.30±0.47 mmol/d in the familial combined hyperlipidemia group (P<.05 between the two groups and between patients with familial combined hyperlipidemia and control subjects; P=NS between patients with familial hypercholesterolemia and control subjects, as determined by ANOVA). Treatment with both gemfibrozil and bezafibrate reduced serum cholesterol, slightly increased HDL cholesterol, and significantly reduced serum triglyceride and apo B concentrations. Cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates were significantly reduced by nearly 55% both after gemfibrozil and after bezafibrate. Our findings indirectly suggest that cholesterol degradation to bile acid is independent of receptor-mediated uptake of LDL by the liver. Hydroxylation rates seem to parallel serum levels of triglyceride and apo B (particularly after fibrate treatment), possibly suggesting a coordinate regulation of bile acid and lipoprotein synthesis.


Key Words: familial hypercholesterolemia • familial combined hyperlipidemia • bile acid synthesis • gemfibrozil • bezafibrate


*    Introduction
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Cholesterol degradation to bile acids is a key event in the maintenance of cholesterol homeostasis in the liver and in the whole body.1 2 The rate-limiting step of the overall synthetic pathway is cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation; this reaction is catalyzed by a microsomal enzyme, cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylase,3 and its rate appears to be regulated mainly by feed-back inhibition exerted by hydrophobic bile acids recirculating to the liver.4 5 Such regulation is currently accepted to take place mainly at the level of gene transcription.2 4 However, relatively little is known about other aspects of cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylase regulation, such as the role of the availability of intracellular free cholesterol.2 4

Spontaneously occurring hyperlipidemias provide an interesting model to investigate some of these issues. Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH),6 7 in which the expression of receptors for apo B and apo E (LDL receptors) is reduced,8 is accompanied by decreased internalization of LDL cholesterol by means of the receptor-mediated pathway; this condition might theoretically reduce the availability of free cholesterol for further catabolization to bile acid. The possibility of a preferential channeling of cholesterol uptake by means of LDL receptors towards bile acid synthesis is suggested by the fact that treatments primarily increasing bile acid synthesis (eg, cholestyramine5 ) seem to upregulate LDL receptor expression,9 whereas treatment with chenodeoxycholic acid, which inhibits cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation,5 is associated with increased serum levels of LDL cholesterol,10 suggesting reduced LDL receptor expression. Such findings support the view that internalized LDL cholesterol and cholesterol recruitable for degradation to bile acids belong to a common regulatory pool.

Other hyperlipidemic conditions may prove interesting from different points of view. Familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCH) is a condition characterized by the presence of multiple lipoprotein phenotypes (IIa, IIb, IV) among first-degree relatives or in the same subject on different occasions.7 11 12 13 Even though the underlying metabolic defect has not yet been fully elucidated, the rate of synthesis of VLDL apo B appears to be elevated in such patients, particularly in those with hypertriglyceridemia (phenotypes IIb and IV).14 15 Because hyperproduction of bile acids is a common finding in hypertriglyceridemic subjects,16 one might consider the possibilities of altered bile acid synthesis in patients with FCH who have the hypertriglyceridemic phenotype and of a coordinate regulation between production of bile acids and lipoprotein lipid and/or apoprotein in this disease.

Treatment with fibric acid derivatives, which are currently used as hypolipidemic agents,17 18 especially in conditions in which hypertriglyceridemia predominates, was consistently found to increase biliary cholesterol secretion and saturation,19 20 21 22 probably because of inhibition of bile acid synthesis. The finding has obvious implications with respect to the occurrence of cholesterol gallstones, and again suggests the possibility of a coordinate suppression of bile acid and lipoprotein production.

To examine possible regulatory effects on bile acid synthesis, we undertook a series of studies to evaluate the rates of cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation in vivo in patients with a clinical diagnosis of heterozygous FH and in patients with a clinical diagnosis of FCH who had the hypertriglyceridemic phenotype; furthermore, we looked at the effects of two different fibric acid congeners, bezafibrate23 (a typical fibric acid derivative) and gemfibrozil24 (a structurally unrelated drug with analogous pharmacological properties), on 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates.


*    Methods
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Patients
Twenty-one hyperlipidemic patients were studied. Their main clinical data are shown in the TableDown. Ten of them (patients 1 through 10) had primary isolated hypercholesterolemia and lipoprotein phenotype IIa; diagnosis of heterozygous FH was suggested by clinical features as well as personal and family history.6 7 Diagnostic criteria included (1) elevated plasma total and LDL cholesterol in the patient and in approximately 50% of first-degree relatives and (2) presence of tendon xanthomas or xanthelasma and corneal arcus, or manifestations of premature arteriosclerosis, in the patient or first-degree relatives.


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Table 1. Relevant Clinical Data of the Patients

Eleven patients (subjects 11 through 21) had primary hypertriglyceridemia, with or without hypercholesterolemia (lipoprotein phenotypes IIb or IV), and with clinical and anamnestic features supporting a diagnosis of FCH.11 13 15 Diagnostic criteria included (1) elevated apo B levels, (2) presence of hyperlipidemia in approximately 50% of first-degree relatives (with at least one relative having hypercholesterolemia in the cases of patients with phenotype IV), and (3) premature arteriosclerosis in the patient or first-degree relatives.

Patients were admitted to the Department of Medicine of the University of Modena as inpatients or day-hospital patients. All subjects were in good general conditions and were nonobese. None was taking drugs known to affect lipid metabolism. Clinical and laboratory evaluation could rule out diabetes and alterations of hepatic, intestinal, and thyroid function. Patients were instructed to follow a hypolipidemic isocaloric diet adequate to maintain a constant body weight. Evaluation of cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates was performed for the first time 4 to 8 weeks after initial evaluation. Patients gave their consent to the design of the study, which was approved by the Ethical Committee of the University of Modena.

In 6 patients (8, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 17) a study was performed after 6 to 8 weeks of treatment with gemfibrozil; the drug was taken, either as tablets or in granular form, as a daily dose of 1200 mg in two administrations (patient 13) or as a single bedtime dose of the 900-mg sustained-release preparation (patients 8, 12, 14, 16, and 17) (Lopid and Lopid TC, respectively; Parke Davis). Five patients (12, 18, 19, 20, and 21) were studied after 6 to 8 weeks of treatment with equipotent doses of bezafibrate administered as a 400-mg tablet of the sustained-release preparation (Bezalip Retard, Boehringer Mannheim Italia) as a single bedtime dose. Patient 12 was studied first during gemfibrozil treatment, then without treatment, and finally after bezafibrate. In the remaining patients the studies without and during drug treatment were randomly sequenced.

Laboratory Methods
[7{alpha}-3H]Cholesterol (specific activity, 3 to 10 mCi/mmol) was synthesized as described.25 26 Cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates were assayed in vivo by tritium release assay, according to a technique already validated both in vitro27 28 and in vivo.5 26 Trace amounts of [7{alpha}-3H]cholesterol (200 to 350 µCi) were dissolved in ethanol and then in 50 mL human albumin or polygelin and subsequently injected intravenously after the subjects had fasted overnight. Blood or urine samples were drawn at fixed intervals after tracer administration for 5 to 6 days.

Because cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation is a stereospecific reaction, the amount of tritium released from the 7{alpha} position of the molecule and joining the body water pool as [3H]water reflects the extent of the 7{alpha}-hydroxylation reaction. Erythrocyte or urine samples underwent distillation, and aliquots of the distilled water were assayed for radioactivity by liquid scintillation counting. Serum was analyzed for the determination of plasma cholesterol–specific activity after extraction, measured as the radioactivity/mass ratio. The rates of cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation were calculated as the ratio between the increment of body water radioactivity in a fixed time interval (usually 60 to 72 hours after tracer) and the mean specific activity of serum cholesterol in the same time interval. Total body water volume was assumed to equal 60% of body weight, normalized to 70 kg. A final correction was made to account for the degree of stereospecificity of the label on the 7{alpha} position,26 which averaged 75% to 80% in the present study. Hydroxylation rates were expressed as the amount of cholesterol undergoing 7{alpha}-hydroxylation per day.5 26 29 Hydroxylation rates assayed by means of the present technique proved to correlate well with the values of total bile acid synthesis, estimated by isotope dilution, in different pathophysiological conditions.30

Routine laboratory evaluation was performed by automated analysis. Cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were determined by enzymatic assay, and serum levels of apo B and apo A-I were assayed by radial immunodiffusion. Lipoprotein cholesterol was determined in the different density fractions by sequential ultracentrifugation of serum.

Statistical Evaluation
Data were expressed as mean±SD and the significance of differences was evaluated according to Student's t test for paired or independent data, as appropriate. Because cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates decrease with aging,29 we planned to perform statistical analysis to rule out the possible confounding effects of age in the evaluation of differences between different patient groups. Analysis was performed by ANOVA with age as the covariate, and the values in the two groups of hyperlipidemic patients were compared with each other and with previously published results from a group of normolipidemic subjects with a wide age range (34 to 83 years).29 The equation of the regression line of cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates (expressed as mmol/d) plotted versus age (years) in these subjects was y=1.86-0.016x.29

Statistical analysis was conducted with the SPSS/PC statistical package on an IBM PS2 workstation. Significance was accepted for P<.05.


*    Results
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*Results
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Cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates were 0.82±0.22 mmol/d in the FH group and 1.30±0.47 mmol/d in the FCH group (P<.05 between the two groups, Student's t test for independent data). When the values obtained in the two groups were superimposed against the plot of 7{alpha}-hydroxylation versus age for normolipidemic subjects (Fig 1Down), a statistically significant difference was detected by ANOVA among all groups (F=5.51, P<.05), between patients with FCH and control subjects (F=6.27, P<.05), and between patients with FH and patients with FCH (F=7.53, P<.05). No difference was detected between patients with FH and control subjects (F=1.47, P=NS).



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Figure 1. Graph shows effect of dyslipidemia on cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates. Individual values obtained in 10 subjects with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH; {bullet}) and in 11 subjects with familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCH; {circ}) are shown. Larger circles with error bars indicate mean±SD. The data were superimposed against the regression line, with 95% confidence limits (broken lines), calculated from the values of cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation previously obtained in 28 normolipidemic subjects, plotted vs age.29 Equation of the regression line (mmol/d vs years) was y=1.86-0.016x. There were significant differences among all groups, between patients with FCH and normolipidemic control subjects, and between patients with FH and those with FCH by ANOVA, with age as the covariate (P<.05), and between subjects with FH and those with FCH by Student's t test for independent data (P<.05). There were no significant differences between subjects with FH and control subjects as assessed by ANOVA.

Fig 2Down shows the effects of treatment with gemfibrozil or bezafibrate on serum lipid levels and serum apo B in the subjects studied.



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Figure 2. Bar graphs show effect of drug treatment on 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates. Effects are shown of treatment with gemfibrozil (900 to 1200 mg/d for 6 to 8 weeks) on serum concentrations of cholesterol, HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), triglyceride, and apo B in 6 subjects (top). Effects are shown of treatment with bezafibrate (400 mg/d for 6 to 8 weeks) on serum concentrations of cholesterol, HDL-C, triglyceride, and apo B in 5 subjects (bottom). Values are shown as mean±SD. *P<.05 vs no treatment, Student's t test for paired data.

After gemfibrozil treatment, total cholesterol decreased from 6.54±0.75 mmol/L (253±29 mg/dL) (basal value) to 5.84±0.98 mmol/L (226±38 mg/dL) (P=NS, Student's t test for paired data). Total triglycerides decreased from 2.07±0.50 mmol/L (183±44 mg/dL) to 1.32±0.45 mmol/L (117±40 mg/dL) (P<.05) and HDL cholesterol increased slightly from 1.19±0.23 mmol/L (46±9 mg/dL) to 1.34±0.28 mmol/L (52±11 mg/dL) (P=NS). Serum apo B levels decreased significantly from 193±23 mg/dL to 140±42 mg/dL (P<.05).

After treatment with bezafibrate, total cholesterol was significantly reduced from 7.99±0.88 mmol/L (309±34 mg/dL) to 6.28±0.75 mmol/L (243±29 mg/dL) (P<.05). Triglycerides decreased from 2.32±1.04 mmol/L (205±92 mg/dL) to 1.31±0.55 mmol/L (116±49 mg/dL) (P<.05) and HDL cholesterol increased from 1.19±0.13 mmol/L (46±5 mg/dL) to 1.42±0.21 mmol/L (55±8 mg/dL) (P<.05). Serum apo B levels were significantly reduced from 198±25 mg/dL to 136±30 mg/dL (P<.05).

Serum levels of LDL cholesterol and VLDL cholesterol essentially paralleled those of total cholesterol and total triglycerides, respectively (data not shown), whereas the levels of apo A-I were increased, but not significantly, by either treatment (without gemfibrozil, 128±19 mg/dL; during gemfibrozil, 139±14 mg/dL; without bezafibrate, 137±8 mg/dL; during bezafibrate, 142±15 mg/dL).

Fig 3Down shows the effects of gemfibrozil and bezafibrate on cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates. Cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation was significantly decreased by an average of 57% after treatment with gemfibrozil (0.46±0.26 mmol/d with gemfibrozil treatment and 1.07±0.41 mmol/d with no treatment; P<.05). Similarly, bezafibrate treatment decreased 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates by 55% (0.74±0.27 mmol/d with bezafibrate treatment and 1.63±0.48 mmol/d with no treatment; P<.05).



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Figure 3. Bar graphs show effects of treatment with gemfibrozil (top) and bezafibrate (bottom) on the rates of cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation (see Fig 2Up for treatment schedules). Data points indicate individual values and bars indicate the means. *P<.05 vs no treatment, Student's t test for paired data.


*    Discussion
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up arrowAbstract
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*Discussion
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The first set of studies was done to determine the possible effect of hyperlipidemic conditions on cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation, the limiting step of bile acid synthesis. Reduced internalization of LDL cholesterol by defective receptors in patients with FH might theoretically lead to reduced substrate availability for bile acid formation. As shown in the present study, this does not seem to be the case because 7{alpha}-hydroxylation was not significantly affected. Our findings are in agreement with data obtained by use of isotope dilution to evaluate bile acid synthesis in subjects with heterozygous FH31 ; furthermore, the evidence, although scarce, from subjects with homozygous FH seems to rule out a reduction of bile acid synthesis in such patients.32 33 The fact that defects in bile acid metabolism have been detected in particular subsets of patients with FH34 might in any case suggest a certain degree of inhomogeneity in FH in this respect.

Thus, even if changes in bile acid production may affect LDL receptor expression,9 10 the opposite does not seem to take place, indicating that cholesterol degradation to bile acids does not depend on a normal function of LDL receptors. It was previously shown that hepatic uptake of LDL cholesterol by means of the receptor-independent pathway is markedly increased in the Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbit, an animal model of homozygous FH, leading to an internalization of even higher than normal amounts of LDL cholesterol.35 This mechanism might also ensure the availability of a sufficient amount of cholesterol for metabolic purposes when the LDL receptor pathway is impaired. Intake of chylomicron remnant cholesterol of alimentary origin might be another mechanism helping to maintain normal or high intrahepatic cholesterol levels.

However, FCH with the hypertriglyceridemic phenotype, a condition associated with increased lipoprotein and apo B production, was shown to be accompanied by a significant increase in cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates. In previous studies, bile acid synthesis was shown to be markedly increased in isolated hypertriglyceridemia,16 36 whereas a lesser, not significant increase was found in combined hyperlipidemia (phenotype IIb).36 Similarly, in another study the rates of bile acid synthesis evaluated by isotope dilution in patients with a diagnosis of genetic hypertriglyceridemia were found to be significantly higher than normal in those with familial hypertriglyceridemia, and were only slightly elevated in those with FCH.37 The finding led the authors of the latter study to hypothesize a coordinate regulation of the rate-limiting enzymes of bile acid and triglyceride synthesis; abnormal upregulation of this control system would in turn be responsible for the changes observed in familial hypertriglyceridemia. In a recent report from our laboratory a significant correlation between 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates and serum triglyceride levels was detected in normolipidemic subjects of different ages,29 indirectly supporting this view.

The present findings describe a significant increase of bile acid synthesis in patients with FCH when the results are evaluated with the interfering effect of age taken into account; this is at partial variance with the previously reported evidence, even if in absolute terms the rates of bile acid synthesis are only slightly higher compared with those observed in patients with the IIb phenotype36 and with FCH.37 Assuming that increased apo B production is the metabolic basis for the alterations observed in FCH, our data would also suggest a possible coordinate regulation between bile acid synthesis and hepatic production of apo B.

The findings on the effects of fibric acid derivatives are consistent with this view. The pharmacological effects of fibrates are not completely understood: activation of peripheral lipoprotein lipase is certainly the best characterized mechanism responsible for the reduction in serum lipids and for the increase in HDL cholesterol; in addition, an important role could be played by reduced hepatic synthesis of lipoprotein, as suggested,17 18 24 and in particular by decreased hepatic VLDL apo B production.38

However, an increase in biliary cholesterol secretion and saturation has consistently been described with such drugs.19 20 21 22 Little is known about the effects of fibrates on bile acid production in human subjects, even if a reduction might be expected from the data on cholesterol saturation. Previous evidence with clofibrate, the oldest fibric acid derivative to be used, showed a decrease of cholic acid synthesis in vivo.39 40 Indirect data obtained by quantitation of fecal acidic sterol output showed a decrease after treatment with gemfibrozil20 41 ; likewise, preliminary in vitro findings suggest a significant decrease of microsomal 7{alpha}-hydroxylase activity after treatment with bezafibrate.42

The present data show the first direct evidence of a significant decrease in cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation rates in vivo after treatment with gemfibrozil and with bezafibrate. The fact that both drugs suppressed hydroxylation rates by the same order of magnitude (about 55%) appears to suggest a similar pharmacological effect of both compounds at the level of hepatic cholesterol balance. Such a marked reduction in the limiting step of bile acid synthesis might reasonably account for an increased availability of intracellular free cholesterol recruitable for biliary secretion and, therefore, for the observed changes in biliary saturation. Clearly, the mechanism whereby fibric acid derivatives inhibit cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation cannot be speculated upon on the basis of the results of the present study; transcriptional regulation of enzyme activity, as well as posttranscriptional effects involving membrane interaction, might be hypothesized.

In our patients, gemfibrozil and bezafibrate exerted similar effects on plasma lipid and apolipoprotein concentrations; bezafibrate had a more potent hypocholesterolemic effect, in agreement with previous evidence,18 and increased HDL cholesterol more markedly. At any rate the most consistent and significant alterations were decreases in serum triglyceride and apo B levels. Such changes, paralleling the inhibitory effect on cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylation, again support the occurrence of a coordinate regulation between the synthesis of bile acids and the hepatic production not only of triglycerides, but also of apo B to be incorporated into lipoprotein.

From the present series of data, coordinate regulation of gene expression and/or specific activity of cholesterol 7{alpha}-hydroxylase and of the enzyme limiting triglyceride synthesis,37 and possibly of synthesis of apo B itself in the liver, can therefore be expected, both in spontaneous conditions (FCH) and after pharmacological treatment. Further studies on the molecular levels of regulation of enzyme activity and apolipoprotein production might provide a pathophysiological basis for these findings.


*    Acknowledgments
 
This work was partly supported by research funds of the University of Modena (MURST 60%).

Received February 13, 1995; accepted April 6, 1995.


*    References
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up arrowAbstract
up arrowIntroduction
up arrowMethods
up arrowResults
up arrowDiscussion
*References
 

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