Smoking prevents the intravascular remodeling of high-density lipoprotein particles: implications for reverse cholesterol transport.

Smoking is a leading cause of atherosclerosis acting trough a wide spectrum of mechanisms, notably the increase of the proatherogenic effect of dyslipidemia. However, a severe atherosclerotic disease is frequently observed in smokers who do not present an overt dyslipidemia. In the present study, we sought to determine if abnormalities in lipid metabolism occur in normolipidemic smokers, focusing especially on the components of intravascular remodeling of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) For this purpose, we measured lipid transfer proteins and enzymes involved in the reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) system in 29 adults: 15 smokers and 14 controls.