Serum squalene in postmenopausal women without and with coronary artery disease

Squalene, found in earlier studies in human atherosclerotic plaques, was me asured in the serum of postmenopausal women with coronary artery disease (C AD) (n = 25) and randomly chosen age-matched healthy controls (n = 30). The squalene concentrations of the whole population ranged from 37.5 to 115.5 mu g/dl, and were higher in serum of the CAD than healthy women (91.4 +/- 2 .6 versus 65.2 +/- 2.6 mu g/dl, P = 0.000), a finding observed also in rela tion to cholesterol (43.8 +/- 1.8 versus 32.9 +/- 1.1 10(2) x mmol/mol of c holesterol, P = 0.000). The squalene concentration was also increased in ch ylomicrons, VLDL and d > 1.006 g/ml lipoproteins, and the proportions to ch olesterol in VLDL and d > 1.006 g/ml lipoproteins. The respective squalene and cholesterol concentrations were related to each other in serum, VLDL an d d > 1.006 g/ml lipoproteins (r = 0.52, 0.85 and 0.55, respectively), wher eas the correlation with triglycerides was seen only in VLDL (r = 0.84) ove r the whole population. Besides enhanced intestinal secretion, it remains t o be shown whether higher serum squalene in postmenopausal coronary women i s due to increased cholesterol synthesis or a defect in squalene conversion to lanosterol. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.