EUROPEAN-LIPOPROTEIN-CLUB - REPORT OF THE 20TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE, TUTZING, 8-11 SEPTEMBER 1997

The year 1997 celebrated the 20th anniversary of the European Lipoprot ein Club. Sessions explored topics in the line of classical concepts a nd forthcoming advances in the held of basic and clinical research on lipoproteins. Participants from 18 European countries attended the con ference. Recent Developments in Lipoprotein Research, were reviewed by Thomas Olivecrona (Umea, Sweden), who gave a perspective on lipolysis ; and Gerd Assmann (Munster, Germany, who overviewed epidemiological d ata of the PROCAM study and focused on the biochemical and genetic com ponents of reverse cholesterol transport. Session I, chaired by Katrii na Aalto Setala (Tampere, Finland) and Marten Hofker (Leiden, Netherla nds) was dedicated to 'Lipoprotein receptors told and new)'. Various s tructural and functional aspects were reported for the newcomers in th e ever enriching LDL receptor gene family (VLDLR, LR7/8B, LR11, Megali n, RAP-related proteins). However, a decade of identification of LDL r eceptors gene defects reveals now that phenocopies of familial hyperch olesterolemia may be linked to a third, yet unknown locus. Identificat ion of pathways which clear HDL is underway. Session II, chaired by Da vid Bowyer (Cambridge, United Kingdom) and Richard W James (Geneva, Sw itzerland), was entitled 'Significance of lipoprotein heterogeneity (m etabolic and pathological aspects)'. Factors involved in lipoprotein m odification (dense LDL, oxidation), transient production (post prandia l, VLDL synthesis) or degradation (complement activation) and controve rsial hypotheses on their links with atherosclerosis were discussed. S ession III on 'Novel methodologies for lipoprotein research' was chair ed by Rudolph Poledne (Prague, Czech Republic) and Armin Steinmetz (Ma rburg, Germany). Simple technologies for routine assessment of lipopro tein metabolism, as well as the most sophisticated ones, to study lipi d and free radical exchanges between particles, were presented. (C) 19 98 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.