Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Apr 18;23(4):147.
doi: 10.31083/j.rcm2304147. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Review of Laboratory Methods to Determine HDL and LDL Subclasses and Their Clinical Importance

Abdolreza Chary  1 , Mehdi Hedayati  2
Affiliations
Review

Review of Laboratory Methods to Determine HDL and LDL Subclasses and Their Clinical Importance

Abdolreza Chary et al. Rev Cardiovasc Med. .

Abstract

Given the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease, accurate identification of methods for assessing lipoprotein subclasses, mainly low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) subfractions, can play an essential role in predicting the incidence of cardiovascular disease such as heart attack. LDL and HDL subclasses differ in size, surface charge, lipid and protein compositions, and biological role. There is no "gold standard" method for measuring the LDL and HDL subclasses or standardizing the different methods used to measure their subfractions. Over the past decades, various techniques have been introduced to evaluate and measure subclasses of these two lipoproteins, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Development of laboratory methods that accurately HDL and LDL function must be developed and validated to high-throughput for clinical usage. In this review study, we tried to examine different methods of evaluating various subclasses of LDL and HDL by mentioning the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Keywords: HDL; LDL; laboratory assessment; lipoprotein; review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
High-density lipoprotein metabolism and reverse cholesterol transport. ABCA1, ATP-binding cassette transporter A1; apoA-I, apolipoprotein A-I; CE, cholesteryl ester; CETP, cholesteryl ester transfer protein; Chol, cholesterol; HDL, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LCAT, lecitin-cholesterol acyltransferase; LDL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDLR, LDL-receptor; RCT, reverse cholesterol transfer; SR-BI, scavenger receptor class B type I; TG, triglyceride; VLDL, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Boekholdt SM, Arsenault BJ, Hovingh GK, Mora S, Pedersen TR, Larosa JC, et al. Levels and changes of HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein AI in relation to risk of cardiovascular events among statin-treated patients: a meta-analysis. Circulation . 2013;128:1504–1512. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hedayati M, Daneshpour MS. Evaluation of HDL-C determination methods. Iranian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism . 2005;7:365–373.
    1. Harangi M, Szentpéteri A, Nádró B, Lőrincz H, Seres I, Páll D, et al. HDL subfraction distribution and HDL function in untreated dyslipidemic patients. Vessel Plus . 2017;1:166–173.
    1. Hamer M, O’Donovan G, Stamatakis E. High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Mortality: too much of a Good Thing. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology . 2018;38:669–672. - PubMed
    1. Nauck M, Winkler K, März W, Wieland H. Quantitative determination of high-, low-, and very-low-density lipoproteins and lipoprotein(a) by agarose gel electrophoresis and enzymatic cholesterol staining. Clinical Chemistry . 1995;41:1761–1767. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources