New insights into the effects of the protein moiety of oxidized LDL (oxLDL).

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the cardiovascular complications in chronic renal failure patients. Lipoprotein oxidation is involved in the genesis of atherosclerosis. Both the lipid and the protein moieties of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) are subject to oxidation. We have shown that oxidation of LDL by hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in vitro, reflecting increased myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in vivo, leads mainly to modifications of apolipoproteins, such that the latter in turn induce high rates of apoptosis in a human monocytic cell line via a caspase-dependent pathway. These in vitro oxidative changes of LDL protein moiety, if shown to occur to a significant extent in uremic patients in vivo, may represent an important pathway in the pathogenesis of atherogenesis.