NMR-Based Lipidomic Analysis of Blood Lipoproteins Differentiates the Progression of Coronary Heart Disease

Abnormal lipid composition and metabolism of plasma lipoproteins play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease (CHD). A 1H NMR-based lipidomic approach was used to investigate the correlation of coronary artery stenosis with the atherogenic (non-HDL) and atheroprotective (HDL) lipid profiles in 99 patients with CHD of various stages of disease and compared with 60 patients with normal coronary arteries (NCA), all documented in coronary angiography. The pattern recognition models created from lipid profiles predicted the presence of CHD with a sensitivity of 87% and a specificity of 88% in the HDL model and with 90% and 89% in the non-HDL model, respectively. Patients with mild, moderate, and severe coronary artery stenosis were progressively differentiated from those with NCA in the non-HDL model with a statistically significant separation of severe stage from both mild and moderate. In the HDL model, the progressive differentiation of the disease stages was statistically significant only between patients with mild and severe coronary artery stenosis. The lipid constituents of lipoproteins that mainly characterized the initial stages and then the progression of the disease were the high levels of saturated fatty acids in lipids in both HDL and non-HDL particles, the low levels of HDL-phosphatidylcholine, HDL-sphingomyelin, and omega-3 fatty acids and linoleic acid in lipids in non-HDL particles. The conventional lipid marker, total cholesterol, found in low levels in HDL and in high levels in non-HDL, also contributed to the onset of the disease but with a much lower coefficient of significance. 1H NMR-based lipidomic analysis of atherogenic and atheroprotective lipoproteins could contribute to the early evaluation of the onset of coronary artery disease and possibly to the establishment of an appropriate therapeutic option.