Excess cholesterol is known to form artery-clogging plaques that can lead to stroke, arterial disease, heart attack, and more, making it the focus of many heart health campaigns. Fortunately, this attention to cholesterol has prompted the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and lifestyle interventions like dietary and exercise regimens. But what if there's more to the picture than just cholesterol? New research from Salk Institute scientists describes how another class of lipids, called sphingolipids, contributes to arterial plaques and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).
Using a longitudinal study of mice fed high-fat diets-;with no additional cholesterol-;the team tracked how these fats flow through the body and found the progression of ASCVD induced by high trans fats was fueled by the incorporation of trans fats into ceramides and other sphingolipids. Knowing that sphingolipids promote atherosclerotic plaque formation reveals another side of cardiovascular disease in addition to cholesterol. The findings, published in Cell Metabolism on November 14, 2024, open an entirely new avenue of potential drug targets to address these diseases and adverse health events like stroke or heart attacks.
Fat is a major component of our diet, and eating trans fats is known to drive heart disease. We used this phenomenon to understand the biological mechanisms putting us at risk. There have been lots of studies investigating how trans fats drive cardiovascu.
