A decade-spanning review narrows thirty cholesterol-lowering drug targets to six for detailed chemical and mechanistic analysis, including CETP inhibitors (Curr Med Chem 2011)

This review is the first attempt at systematization and analysis of the literature data (covering the last decade) on the chemical structures and specific activities of cholesterol-regulating agents. Six of thirty currently known biological targets for treating hyperlipidemia were selected and considered. All of the chemical structures under study are divided into two classes with different mechanisms of their activity: cholesterol biosynthesis blockers (HMG-CoA reductase and squalene 2,3-oxide-lanosterol cyclase inhibitors) and regulators of cholesterol transformations in the organism (PPARα and PPARα/γ agonists, inhibitors of intestinal absorption of cholesterol, cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitors, and regulators of low-density-lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) expression).