IMR Press / FBS / Volume 2 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.2741/S107

Frontiers in Bioscience-Scholar (FBS) is published by IMR Press from Volume 13 Issue 1 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
The physiopathology of lipoprotein (a)
Show Less
1 Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Catania, Italy
2 Department of Senescence, Urological and Neurological Sciences, University of Catania, Italy
3 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Catania, Italy
4 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Chieti, Italy

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

 

Front. Biosci. (Schol Ed) 2010, 2(3), 866–875; https://doi.org/10.2741/S107
Published: 1 June 2010
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochemical markers in biological fluids)
Abstract

Lipoprotein(a) (also called Lp(a)) is a lipoprotein subclass. Different studies have identified Lp(a) as a putative risk factor for atherosclerotic diseases such as coronary artery disease and stroke. The physiological role of Lp(a) in humans is still unclear, but it seems that individuals with low concentrations of plasma Lp(a) manifest no deficiency syndrome or disease. Because of the high homology between plasminogen and apo(a) it is conceivable that Lp(a) plays a role in the coagulation system, especially in to thrombosis and impaired fibrinolysis processes. It can also contribute to coronary disease and can accumulate in the arterial walls and cerebral vessels. Lp(a) seems to play an active role in acute inflammation promoting the enhancement of intercellular adhesion molecules; that way it can contribute to develop atherosclerosis. Finally, we underline the relationship among Lp(a) levels and others inflammations molecules such as fibrinogen, fibronectin and TGF- β.

Share
Back to top