Anti-cholesterol antibodies (ACHA) in patients with different atherosclerotic vascular diseases and healthy individuals. Characterization of human ACHA

In animal experiments the protective role of anti-cholesterol antibodies (A CHA) in the development of atherosclerosis has been demonstrated. Despite t he fact that ACHA are present in the serum of healthy humans, no data on th e occurrence of these antibodies in human diseases are available. We determ ined serum concentrations of IgG type ACHA by an enzyme immunosorbent assay in 600 patients with atherosclerotic vascular diseases (86 patients with p eripheral occlusive atherosclerosis, 146 patients with cerebrovascular dise ases, 341 patients with severe coronary heart disease (CHD) who received ao rto-coronary by-pass, 27 patients with myocardial infarction who did not un dergo by-pass operation), in 57 patient controls (complaints of CHD. withou t coronarographic alterations) and in 218 healthy individuals. ACHA were pr esent in the sera of all persons tested. No serum cofactor is needed for th e binding of human ACHA to solid phase cholesterol. binding can be inhibite d dose-dependently by LDL and even more strongly with LDL/VLDL preparations purified from human serum. ACHA levels were found to be considerably lower in patients with peripheral occlusive atherosclerosis and cerebrovascular diseases compared with the levels in healthy individuals. By contrast, the ACHA levels of patients with CHD were considerably higher. No differences i n the IgG subclass distribution and binding efficiency of ACHA in the sera of CHD patients and controls were found. Thus. our present findings indicat e that both low and high ACHA production may be associated with different a therosclerotic vascular diseases. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. Al l rights reserved.