CardioExchange Archive

November 12th, 2012

Nonfasting Lipid Testing Gains Growing Acceptance

Larry Husten, PHD

Although fasting before a lipid test has long been recommended, a new study and accompanying commentaries make the case that nonfasting lipid levels are acceptable and may even be superior to fasting levels for the assessment of cardiovascular risk. Investigators at the University of Calgary analyzed data from laboratory tests obtained from more than 200,000 people […]

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November 5th, 2012

Early Look: New Methods to Enhance Cholesterol Efflux

Larry Husten, PHD

Although clinical trials of HDL-boosting CETP inhibitors have so far failed to produce positive results, many other avenues of HDL-related research remain active. Conference attendees got a glimpse of the very early phases of two intriguing lines of research in this area on Monday. Apoliporotein A-I is thought to be the key HDL component that removes […]

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November 5th, 2012

Dalcetrapib: Another HDL-Raising CETP Inhibitor Bites the Dust

Larry Husten, PHD

Another HDL-raising CETP inhibitor has failed to demonstrate cardiovascular benefit in a large clinical trial. With the presentation of the dal-OUTCOMES trial at the American Heart Association in Los Angeles and simultaneous publication in the New England Journal of Medicine, dalcetrapib joins torceptrapib on the list of once-promising CETP inhibitors. In dal-OUTCOMES, 15,871 patients with a recent […]

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May 17th, 2012

Study Casts Doubt on Protective Effects of Raising HDL Cholesterol

Physician's First Watch, CardioExchange Staff

A genetics-based analysis finds that raising HDL will not necessarily lower risk for myocardial infarction. Reporting in the Lancet, researchers describe a two-pronged approach. First, they searched for the presence of a specific allele (LIPG Asn396Ser, associated with higher HDL levels in carriers) in a large cohort of subjects with and without MI. The allele’s presence […]

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November 16th, 2011

Experts Clash Over AIM-HIGH

Larry Husten, PHD

Sparks flew at the AHA press conference yesterday when the designated discussant for the AIM-HIGH trial, Australia’s Philip Barter, said that “the design was such that in no way could it test the hypothesis” that niacin therapy may be beneficial. “This trial disturbs me greatly,” he said. The trial co-principal investigator, William Boden, defended his […]

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August 10th, 2011

Rethinking Trilipix — And the Process for Approving Lipid-Modifying Drugs

Sanjay Kaul, MD

Editor’s Note: In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, three members of the FDA’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee (Allison Goldfine, Sanjay Kaul, and William Hiatt) offer their perspective on the May 19 committee meeting to review the controversial ACCORD-Lipid Study. Here, one of those authors, Sanjay Kaul, provides his […]

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May 27th, 2011

AIM-HIGH Halted: A Death Knell for the HDL Hypothesis? Six Experts Weigh In

CardioExchange Editors, Staff

Earlier this week, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute stopped the randomized clinical trial known as AIM-HIGH (Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic Syndrome with Low HDL/High Triglycerides: Impact on Global Health). It had been designed to test the addition of high-dose, extended-release niacin to statins in people who were at risk for cardiovascular events, had well-controlled […]

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May 26th, 2011

NHLBI Stops the AIM-HIGH Trial of Niacin

Larry Husten, PHD

The AIM-HIGH (Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic Syndrome with Low HDL/High Triglycerides: Impact on Global Health) trial of niacin has been stopped early by the NHLBI. The trial was designed to test the addition of high-dose, extended-release niacin to statins in people at risk for CV events who had well-controlled LDL but low HDL and elevated […]

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March 8th, 2011

European Study Suggests HDL May Protect Against Colon Cancer

Larry Husten, PHD

In the largest study to date examining the relationship between lipids and colorectal cancer (CRC), a European study has found a strong inverse relationship between HDL cholesterol and colon cancer. Previous smaller studies investigating the relationship had been inconclusive. In a paper published in Gut, Fränzel JB van Duijnhoven and colleagues report on a nested case-control study […]

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January 12th, 2011

Researchers Shed New Light on HDL Cholesterol

Larry Husten, PHD

Two papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine shed new light on the important but often mysterious role of HDL cholesterol in cardiovascular disease. In the first paper, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania studied 1,000 healthy volunteers and patients with coronary artery disease and observed a strong inverse relationship between cholesterol efflux from […]

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