Review Article
HDL, Atherosclerosis, and Emerging Therapies
Table 2
Controversies surrounding the “HDL hypothesis.”
| HDL and atherosclerosis: pro | The “HDL hypothesis” questioned |
| Strong biological plausibility for HDL as a therapeutic target | Mendelian Randomization does not support HDL-cholesterol as a causal risk factor |
| The epidemiological association between HDL-C and CVD is strong and coherent | HDL-C loses its predictive value if LDL-C is low |
| Animal data is unequivocal: HDL protects against atherosclerosis | The clinical trial data with drugs that raise HDL-C (fibrates, niacin, torcetrapib, and dalcetrapib) is neutral |
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