Tarasov K, Ekroos K, Suoniemi M, Kauhanen D, Sylvänne T, Hurme R, Gouni-Berthold I, Berthold HK et al.
Lipidomic profiling of 445 CAD patients from the LURIC study identified distinct ceramide species significantly associated with fatal cardiovascular outcomes independently of traditional risk factors. Simvastatin broadly lowered plasma ceramides by approximately 25%, whereas ezetimibe produced no such reduction; LURIC participants carrying the PCSK9 loss-of-function variant R46L (n=19) showed a significant 20% reduction in outcome-related ceramides compared with major-allele carriers. These findings suggest that the mechanism of lipid lowering, not lipid lowering per se, determines ceramide-mediated cardiovascular risk.
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 20. Dezember 2013 | PMID 24243630