Researchers at the University of Montreal have succeeded in reducing the triglyceride levels blood, complex fats partly derived from our food, by blocking the expression of a gene. This is the gene encoding a protein called Apolipoprotein C-III or APOC3, which partly regulates the level of lipids in the blood.
“Our study suggests that a protein, APOC-III, plays a key role in the management of triglycerides. Triglycerides, like cholesterol, are part of the lipid class. Triglycerides come from fats provided by our food or produced by our body. Depending on the cause, the accumulation of triglycerides in the blood is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, pancreatitis or other complications, ”explains Dr. Daniel Gaudet, co-author of the study.
The research team blocked the expression of the gene responsible for APOC3 in 61 patients with hyperlipidemia (abnormally high level of lipids in the blood) and compared their blood triglyceride levels to those of 24 patients treated with a placebo. They then observed a significant drop in the level of triglycerides in the blood of patients whose gene was blocked.
Essential to the understanding of lipid mechanisms, this discovery could lead to a treatment of severe forms of hyperlipidemia, which increase the risk of metabolic diseases (diabetes, cholesterol) and the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
“Decoding these mechanisms opens the door to precise and individualized interventions to prevent the residual risk associated with various causes of severe hypertriglyceridemia”, underlines Dr. Gaudet in the communicated from the University of Montreal. The study was published on July 30, 2015 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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