Prognostic value of plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels in Japanese patients with stable coronary artery disease: the Japan NCVC-Collaborative Inflammation Cohort (JNIC) Study.

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels can predict cardiovascular events among apparently healthy individuals and patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, hsCRP levels vary among ethnic populations. We previously reported hsCRP levels in Japanese to be much lower than in Western populations.

Three-year follow-up results of angiographic intervention trial using an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to evaluate retardation of obstructive multiple atheroma (ATHEROMA) study.

Background: The cardiovascular event rate in Japanese populations is strikingly lower than that in Caucasian populations and it has been postulated that this difference might be because of variations in atherosclerosis progression in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the rate of angiographically assessed progression and its response to statins has not been well described in Japanese patients.

Methods And Results: The angiographic intervention trial using an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to evaluate the retardation of obstructive multiple atheroma (ATHEROMA) study was a multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial investigating the effects of pravastatin on coronary atherosclerosis in Japanese patients with CAD using quantitative coronary angiography.

Hypercholesterolemic valvulopathy: an aspect of malignant atherosclerosis.

Hypercholesterolemia affects not only the coronary artery, but also the aortic root, particularly the aortic valve. Aortic stenosis is critical in the prognosis for most patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and some heterozygous FH patients who result in aortic valve replacement (AVR). Histopathological examination of their valves shows lipid deposition, inflammatory cell infiltration and calcification in the aortic cusps.

Altered distribution of plasma PAF-AH between HDLs and other lipoproteins in hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus.

Platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH) is a phospholipase A2 associated with lipoproteins that hydrolyzes platelet-activating factor (PAF) and oxidized phospholipids. We have developed an ELISA for PAF-AH that is more sensitive than previous methods, and have quantified HDL-associated and non-HDL-associated PAF-AH in healthy, hyperlipidemic, and diabetic subjects. In healthy subjects, plasma total PAF-AH concentration was positively correlated with PAF-AH activity and with plasma total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, LDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein B (apoB) concentrations (all P < 0.

Angiographic intervention trial using HMG CoA reductase inhibitor to evaluate retardation of obstructive multiple atheroma in West Japan (ATHEROMA study): rationale, design and baseline.

The ATHEROMA study is a prospective, multicentre, randomized controlled study in Japan to assess the changes of coronary atherosclerosis of patients with pre-existing coronary artery disease (CAD) by cholesterol-lowering therapy (CLT) using pravastatin 10-20 mg per day for 3 years. The primary objective is to evaluate the changes in coronary minimum lumen diameters by quantitative coronary arteriography, and the secondary outcome is to observe morphological changes of plaques and clinical events including mortality, recurrence of CAD and the requirement of any coronary intervention. The primary objective will test the hypothesis that CLT results in a beneficial effect on coronary vessels in patients with coronary atherosclerosis in Japan, where the incidence of CAD is the lowest among industrialized countries.