New Key Publication: Large HDL particles negatively associate with leukocyte counts independent of cholesterol efflux capacity: A cross sectional study in the population-based LifeLines DEEP cohort

Background and aims

Leukocytosis, the expansion of white blood cells, is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Studies in animal models have shown that high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) suppresses leukocytosis by mediating cholesterol efflux from hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. HDL-c showed a moderate negative association with leukocyte numbers in the UK Biobank and Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Cholesterol efflux capacity of HDL (HDL-CEC) or HDL particle (HDL-P) number have been proposed as improved inverse predictors of CVD compared to plasma HDL-c. In the LifeLines DEEP (LLD) cohort (n = 962), a sub-cohort representing the prospective population-based LL cohort from the North of The Netherlands, we tested the hypothesis that HDL-CEC and HDL-P were associated with lower leukocyte counts.

Authors:

• Anouk G. Groenen
• Venetia Bazioti
• Isabelle A. van Zeventer
• Lianmin Chen
• Hilde E. Groot
• Jan-Willem Balder
• Alexandra Zhernakova
• Pim van der Harst
• Antoine Rimbert
• Jan Albert Kuivenhoven
• Jingyuan Fu
• Marit Westerterp

Link to the Paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2022.01.008