[Treatment of dyslipidemia - is here still place for CETP-inhibitors?]

Abstract

In the treatment of dyslipidemias about 5-6 years back a new class of drugs emerged, CETP (cholesteryl ester transfer protein)-inhibitors. Their benefit was due to an increase of HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) serum levels. This treatment mode was supported by epidemiological and clinical studies, as people with high serum HDL-C levels suffered less from cardiovascular (CV) events. Three studies with CETP inhibitors (ILLUMINATE with torcetrapib, dal-OUTCOMES with dalcetrapib and ACCELERATE with evacetrapib) were unfortunately negative, and torcetrapib was even harmful to patients due to an increase of aldosterone serum levels. Treatment with dalcetrapib was safe, but without benefit. Similar it was with evacetrapib. There is still running also a study with anacetrapib (REVEAL), but a benefit is here not expected. Evacetrapib and anacetrapib in comparison to dalcetrapib can reduce serum LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) much more, and similar results were found also in another CETP-inhibitor TA-8995 (TULIP study). Authors try to explain why there is no benefit with CETP-inhibitors (dysfunctional HDL particle, another effective mechanism than reverse cholesterol transport). A genetic analysis in dalcetrapib studies (dal-OUTCOMES and dal-PLAQUE-2) showed, that a cardiovascular benefit from this treatment is concentrated only to a subgroup of patients with a genotype AA in the gene ADCY9 on 16th chromosome. In the population there are about 20% of people with this AA genotype. A clinical study DAL-301 will test this data in a near future. Framingham Offspring study showed that the association of" HDL-C serum level - CV risk in the future" is greatly influenced by serum levels of LDL-C and triglycerides (if these are increased, than the CV future prediction with HDL-C levels is lost). HDL particles are complex and we do not know which subtype of HDL particles is for cardiovascular prognosis important. The research here continues.Key words: acute coronary syndrome - CETP-inhibitors - dalcetrapib - dysfunctional HDL particles - dyslipidemia - HDL-cholesterol - pharmacogenomics of ADCY9 gene.