Dietary antioxidants and fat are associated with plasma antibody titers to heat shock proteins 60, 65, and 70 in subjects with dyslipidemia.
BACKGROUND
The heat shock proteins (HSPs) are protein chaperones. Higher titers of antibody to HSPs (anti-HSPs) have been reported in atherosclerosis, which may contribute to immunoactivation in this process.


OBJECTIVE
We investigated whether dietary antioxidants and fat intake are associated with changes in anti-HSP titers in dyslipidemic subjects.


METHODS
Patients (n = 238) were recruited from hospital lipid clinics. Control subjects (n = 188) were recruited from university and hospital employees. Food-frequency questionnaires were used to estimate dietary antioxidants and fat.


RESULTS
Dyslipidemic patients had significantly higher titers of anti-HSPs than did control subjects; expressed in medians and interquartile ranges of absorbance units, anti-HSP-60 titers were 0.27 (0.18-0.37) and 0.22 (0.16-0.30), anti-HSP-65 titers were 0.45 (0.28-0.79) and 0.31 (0.22-0.50), and anti-HSP-70 titers were 0.22 (0.17-0.30) and 0.19 (0.13-0.27), respectively. Median and interquartile ranges of serum concentrations of C-reactive protein [1.25 (0.42-3.26) and 0.58 (0.17-1.42)] and mean (+/-SEM) concentrations of vitamin E (16.36 +/- 0.31 and 14.08 +/- 0.38) were also significantly higher in patients than in control subjects, respectively. In dyslipidemic patients, the major dietary predictors of the variability in anti-HSP-60 titers were vitamin C (P = 0.005), vitamin E (P = 0.04), and total fat (P = 0.009) intakes; for anti-HSP-65 titers, vitamin C was the major predictor (P = 0.002). These findings remained significant after adjustment for confounding factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Anti-HSP-60, -65, and -70 titers are significantly higher in dyslipidemic patients with or without established coronary disease. Our data indicate an association between dietary constituents and the immune response to HSPs in dyslipidemic subjects.
Ghayour-Mobarhan
Majid
M
Centre for Clinical Science & Measurement and the Centre for Nutrition and Food Safety, School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom.
New
Susan A
SA
Lamb
David J
DJ
Starkey
Bryan J
BJ
Livingstone
Callum
C
Wang
Tim
T
Vaidya
Nandita
N
Ferns
Gordon A
GA
D000975:Antioxidants / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018834:Chaperonin 60 / Q000276:immunology*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins
D000975:Antioxidants; D001323:Autoantibodies; D018834:Chaperonin 60; D004041:Dietary Fats; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; C060293:HSPD1 protein, human; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins