Understanding Oxidized LDL

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease. Oxidized LDL has now been implicated as a potent atherogenic protein primarily found in atherosclerotic lesions of the coronary artery wall.

Oxidized LDL is not found in normal arteries. Native (non-oxidized) LDL, by itself, is not atherogenic.

It must be oxidatively modified to become atherogenic. Oxidized LDL is directly involved in the initiation and progression of the atherosclerotic disease process from the early-stage conversion of macrophages into lipid-laden foam cells, to the late-stage development of coronary artery stenosis, plaque instability, plaque rupture, coronary thrombosis, and myocardial infarction.

Coronary artery disease patients generally show elevated blood levels of oxidized LDL prior to treatment. These high levels indicate that the atherosclerotic disease process (atherogenesis) in the artery wall is accelerated.

Evidence relating oxidized LDL to accelerated atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease is stronger now than ever before. Cardiologists increasingly accept the measurement of circulating oxidized LDL as a useful diagnostic indicator for better therapeutic management of patients with coronary artery disease.

Selected References