HDL biology
Simvastatin lowers plasma CETP only in Japanese patients with elevated baseline CETP levels (Clin Chem 1998)
Original title: Human cholesteryl ester transfer protein measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with two monoclonal antibodies against rabbit cholesteryl ester transfer protein: plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein and lipoproteins among Japanese hypercholesterolemic patients
A new ELISA using two monoclonal antibodies raised against rabbit CETP and cross-reactive with human CETP was used to measure plasma CETP in Japanese hypercholesterolemic patients. Among 63 patients undergoing coronary angiography, plasma CETP did not differ significantly between the 37 with 50% or greater coronary luminal stenosis and the 26 with less stenosis, and among 40 hypercholesterolemic patients only LDL-cholesterol, not other lipoprotein measurements, correlated positively with CETP. In 23 patients treated with simvastatin 5 mg daily for 4 weeks, plasma CETP markedly decreased in those with pretreatment CETP of 3 mg/L or higher, but did not change in those with lower pretreatment CETP; in this higher-CETP group, a negative correlation between CETP and HDL-cholesterol emerged only after treatment. The findings demonstrate a working human CETP ELISA and a baseline-CETP-dependent simvastatin response.
Original abstract
Plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) concentrations were measured in Japanese subjects by an ELISA with two different monoclonal antibodies that were raised against rabbit CETP and cross-reacted against human CETP. Among 63 patients who consecutively underwent coronary angiography, the plasma CETP of 37 patients with luminal stenosis > or = 50% in their coronary arteries was not significantly different from that of the 26 patients with luminal stenosis < 50%. No other lipoprotein-related measurement except HDL-cholesterol differentiated the two groups. Among 40 hypercholesterolemic patients, no lipoprotein-related measurement other than LDL-cholesterol was found to positive correlate with the CETP. Before and after the treatment of 23 patients with simvastatin 5 mg a day for 4 weeks, plasma CETP markedly decreased in those whose pretreatment CETP was > or = 3 mg/L; no change was observed for those with lower pretreatment CETP. In the former group, negative correlation between CETP and HDL-cholesterol was demonstrated only in the posttreatment plasma.
Summary written by cetpinhibition.org from the published abstract; figures as published. Page updated 19 August 2026. Methods.