cholesterol tagged posts

Cholesterol-craving cancers need lipid enzymes to use metabolites for growth, study shows

tumor cells
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

While many American adults are trying to reduce cholesterol levels, certain cancerous tumors have a relentless appetite for the metabolite. Some tumor cells use as much cholesterol as they can access to accelerate their growth beyond the capabilities of normal cells.

Turning tumors’ cholesterol cravings into weakness
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and their collaborators at the University of Illinois Chicago have published findings in Science Advances regarding a potential method for turning the tables on these tumors by subverting their cholesterol cravings. The researchers revealed new insights into enzymes that help move cholesterol around cells...

Read More

Simple test could better predict your risk of heart disease

Hands covered in gloves holding a test tube with a blood sample.
Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology and Harvard University have shown comprehensively that a combination of two lipoprotein markers, measured in a simple blood test, can give more accurate information about individual risk of heart disease than the current blood cholesterol test, potentially saving lives. Photo: Marco J Haenssgen, Unsplash

For almost 60 years, measuring cholesterol levels in the blood has been the best way to identify individuals at high risk of cardiovascular disease...

Read More

Diet, Microbes and Fat: A new pathway controlling levels of body fat and cholesterol

Diet, microbes and fat: A new pathway controlling levels of body fat and cholesterol
Lipid accumulation in a murine model of fatty liver disease, visualized by color-enhanced lipid droplets (pink) in liver tissue (green). Superimposed chemical structure of a newly discovered bile acid conjugate. Credit: Dr. Mohammad Arifuzzaman, Dr. Christopher Parkhurst, Dr. Frank Schroeder, and Dr. David Artis.

Beneficial gut microbes and the body work together to fine-tune fat metabolism and cholesterol levels, according to a new preclinical study by investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University’s Ithaca campus.

The research is published in the journal Nature.

The human body has co-evolved with the beneficial microbes that live in the gut (termed the microbiota), resulting in mutually favorable relationships that aid in the d...

Read More

Cholesterol may Not be the Only Lipid involved in Trans Fat-driven Cardiovascular Disease

Cholesterol is not the only lipid involved in trans fat-driven cardiovascular disease
Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell Metabolism (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2024.10.016

Excess cholesterol is known to form artery-clogging plaques that can lead to stroke, arterial disease, heart attack, and more, making it the focus of many heart health campaigns. Fortunately, this attention to cholesterol has prompted the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and lifestyle interventions like dietary and exercise regimens. But what if there’s more to the picture than just cholesterol?

New research from Salk Institute scientists describes how another class of lipids, called sphingolipids, contributes to arterial plaques and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD)...

Read More