In this issue of the JCI, Vaisar et al. studied the proteome of HDL (see the related article beginning on page 746). They reveal, quite unexpectedly, that HDL is enriched in several proteins involved in the complement cascade, as well as in a variety of protease inhibitors, supporting the concept that HDL plays a role in innate immunity and in the regulation of proteolytic cascades involved in inflammatory and coagulation processes. The protein makeup of HDL also appears to be altered in patients with coronary artery disease. HDL proteomics is in its infancy, and preliminary findings will need to be confirmed using standardized approaches in larger clinical samples. However, this approach promises to better elucidate the relationship of HDL to atherosclerosis and its complications and could eventually help in the development of biomarkers to predict the outcome of interventions that alter HDL levels and functions.
Muredach P. Reilly, Alan R. Tall
This file is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. If you have not installed and configured the Adobe Acrobat Reader on your system.
PDFs are designed to be printed out and read, but if you prefer to read them online, you may find it easier if you increase the view size to 125%.
Many versions of the free Acrobat Reader do not allow Save. You must instead save the PDF from the JCI Online page you downloaded it from. PC users: Right-click on the Download link and choose the option that says something like "Save Link As...". Mac users should hold the mouse button down on the link to get these same options.