HDL cholesterol, LDL receptor activity and response to dietary cholesterol *1 A reply to the letter of Cortese, Miller, Marenah and Lewis [2]

Abstract

Variation in the concentration of cholesterol in blood plasma is partly accounted for by differences in diet, age, sex and genetic constitution. No correlation between plasma low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentration and the activity of the LDL receptor in white blood cells could be found. However, an inverse correlation between plasma high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration and LDL receptor activity was reported in a recent letter to this Journal. Although we cannot explain this finding, we would like to point out that a high plasma HDL cholesterol level and a low LDL receptor activity are associated with high susceptibility to diet-induced hypercholesterolaemia.