title: Phospholipid transfer protein in hemodialysis patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) is mainly involved in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) metabolism. The role of PLTP in atherogenesis is still controversial. We aimed to investigate PLTP activity in hemodialysis (HD) patients, a population which has an increased risk for the development of atherosclerosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  PLTP activity and other markers were analyzed in blood samples from 68 HD patients and in a matched group of 68 healthy controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum PLTP activity was nearly doubled in HD patients in comparison to healthy controls (median 43.0 vs. 22.4 pmol/mul/h, p < 0.001). In HD patients, PLTP activity correlated with HDL-C (r = 0.342, p = 0.004), but not with CRP (r = -0.057, p = 0.644) or leukocyte count (r = 0.116, p = 0.345). After a follow-up of 2 years, 26 HD patients had died. Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that low CRP (p = 0.047) but neither high HDL-C (p = 0.071) nor low PLTP activity (p = 0.853) were relevantly related to survival of HD patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An elevated PLTP activity in HD patients may be considered as a further aspect of uremic dyslipidemia in HD patients. However, PLTP activity was not related to markers of inflammation or to survival of HD patients, even though it correlated with HDL-C. Thus, we conclude that PLTP does not influence the prognostically relevant inflammatory process in HD patients although it does influence the composition of HDL particles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine III, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. axel.schlitt@medizin.uni-halle.de
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schlitt
authors.forename: Gunnar H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Heine
authors.forename: Xian-Cheng
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Messow
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blankenberg
authors.forename: Hans J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Rupprecht
authors.forename: Christof
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buerke
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Werdan
authors.forename: Karl J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lackner
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Köhler
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Girndt
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D050171:Dyslipidemias / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049294:Phospholipid Transfer Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000401:mortality
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL; D049294:Phospholipid Transfer Proteins