ackground : Recently there has been a renewed interest in the possibility tht Lp(a) may
be important in the pathogenesis of thrombosis related disease. It is already known that
lipoprotein levels in patients with nephrotic syndrome are usually high, so it would be very
interesting to see if Lp(a) levels are also elevated in these patients. If Lp(a) levels increase
concomitantly to LDL and/or VLDL in nephrotic syndrome, it should be considered a
thrombogenic factor.
Method : To provbe this possibility, we measured the Lp(a) levels in the following
patients : nephrotic syndrome (n=43), chronic glomerulonephritis patients with proteinuria less
than 3g per day (n=28), and healthy control (n=50).
Results : Lp(a) was 714.9 458.3 mg/L in nephrotic syndrome group, 293.7 199.4 mg/L in
the chronic glomerulonephritis group, and 165 33 mg/L in the healthy control group, showing
significantly higher levels in the nephrotic syndrome group compared to both the chronic
glomerulonephritis group and healthy control group (p<0.001).
Lp(a) concentrations showed a direct correlation with serum cholesterol level
(R-squared=0.609, p=.0001), triglyceride level (R-squared=0.198, p=.0001), urine protein level
(R-squared=0.456,p=.0001) but an inverse correlation with serum albumin levels
(R-squared=0.32, p=.0001). Lp (a) concentration according to the lipoprotein pattern was 961.4
416.6 mg/L for type Iib (n=22) and 484.1 320.4 mg/L for type IV (n=26), showing significantly
higher levels for type Iib compared to type IV(p<0.001).
Conclusion : Our results suggest that Lp (a) should be considered a thrombogenic factor
in nephrotic syndrome.
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