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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2006;26:e38.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Nonpharmacological Treatment of Hypercholesterolemia Increases Circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cell Population in Adults

Giuseppe Croce; Gabriella Passacquale; Stefano Necozione; Claudio Ferri; Giovambattista Desideri

Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health, University of L’Aquila, Italy

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

To the Editor:

Hypercholesterolemia represents a major cardiovascular risk factor because of its ability to promote and sustain proatherogenic inflammation of vascular wall.¹ A reduction of number and activity of bone marrow–derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) could participate in the development of vascular damage in hypercholesterolemic patients.² Indeed, EPCs serve as a cellular reservoir to replace dysfunctional endothelium and to form a cellular patch at the site of denuding injury.³ According to this, the level of circulating EPCs predicts the occurrence of cardiovascular events and death from cardiovascular causes.⁴ Nonpharmacological treatment represents the first-line approach to primary prevention in hypercholesterolemia because of its effects on lipid profile and cardiovascular outcomes.⁵ Despite the wealth of evidence derived from epidemiological and interventional trials, there is limited understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms. To clarify this topic, we evaluated whether or not changes in dietary habits, alone or in association with regular physical activity, were able to affect the number of circulating EPCs in patients with isolated hypercholesterolemia.

We studied 38 never-treated hypercholesterolemic patients (LDL cholesterol between 4.1 and 4.9 mmol/L) without additional cardiovascular risk factors and/or concomitant diseases, including clinical conditions in which neovascularization might be present, such as cardiovascular disease, retinopathy, wound healing, or cancer. Patients were consecutively recruited among those who met the above criteria and referred to our Outpatient Unit for Cardiovascular Prevention between October 2004 and June 2005. After enrollment, all patients were randomly assigned to a 4-week treatment period based either on diet alone (10F/10M, 46.8±8.3 years) . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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