Circulating PCSK9 is lowered acutely following surgery.

Background: A decrease in serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is well documented after acute stress. Plasma proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 (PCSK9), which promotes degradation of low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R) resulting in reduced plasma clearance of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and an increase in serum LDL-C, would be predicted to decrease. Yet, a few studies have demonstrated an increase 1-8 days after acute stress. Our objective was to assess the earlier status of plasma PCSK9, within the first 24 hours of onset of stress.

Methods: We measured serum lipids and plasma PCSK9 in 39 patients before and soon after an elective surgical procedure (abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair).

Results: We observed an early decrease in PCSK9 following surgery, as well as a decrease in total cholesterol (TC), LDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and triglycerides (TG).

Conclusion: Unlike other studies which showed an increase in PCSK9 after the onset of stress, our study detected a fall in PCSK9 following acute surgical stress. The observed difference is likely due to the earlier timing of PCSK9 measurement in our study. Further studies involving serial poststress measurements for several days are needed to determine whether PCSK9 behaves as an acute-phase reactant, whether it displays a biphasic response to acute stress, and whether changes in circulating PCSK9 are responsible for lipoprotein changes observed after surgical stress. (Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov study ID NCT00493389).