APOLIPOPROTEIN H AND CHOLESTEROL

In  ldl receptor knockout mice, these are mice that do not have the ability to synthesize cholesterol in a manner that leads to the excretion of cholesterol. Atherosclerosis was acclerated in animals that were injected with APL antibodies. These findings suggest a role in the development of atherosclerosis.

Now, a definition of what constitutes an APL syndrone, this is a disorder in which vascular thrombosis or recurrent pregnancy losses occurs.APL stands for antiphospholipid syndrome. This antigen targets the phospholipid proteins. If you remember lipids are carried through the blood stream by proteins and in this condition it is the protein that is being targeted(apolipoprotein H) orB2GPI.

To explain how an antibody is formed, when the body encounters something that is foreign, it starts making antibodies.Some antigens are beneficial as those that are given for different immunizations,  these are protective against disease states and depending on what is being immunized this dictates the antibody antigen complex that is used.

APL is generally thought  to fall in the autoimmune antibody classification. Explanation of an autoimmune disease, to put it simply it is the body reacting to itself. APL antibodies are distinct and unique to the syndrome and can be differentiated from other conditions that target the phospholipid and not the co factor protein(apoH).

How this disorder came about is interesting and bears telling. Through the efforts of Moore and Mohr in 1952. They were the first to describe this anamoly. It was through the observation of a false positive test for syphilis that something other than syphilis was occuring but at that time it was not known what was causing this false positive reaction.

Now stay tuned for the next posting and I will explain exactly what happened and what came about.

Hopefully, I peaked your interest as this is rather dry material.

Stay Health