A Pilot Study on Low-density Lipoprotein Receptor-related Protein-1 in Chinese Patients with Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Objective: There are no published data on the expression of low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) in human aortic tissues with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), although some researchers have suggested that LRP1 may be a crucial regulator in the pathogenesis of AAA. The aim of this pilot study is to investigate LRP1 expression in aortic tissues from Chinese patients with AAA compared with normal control tissues. Materials and methods: This study used human abdominal aortic tissues with or without AAA as a research model. Aneurysmal abdominal aortas were collected from Chinese patients with AAA (n = 12) during open surgical aneurysmal repair at our institution, and normal control non-aneurysmal abdominal aortas were collected from Chinese healthy organ donors (n = 12) during organ transplantation. Protein expression of LRP1 was analyzed by western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Results: LRP1 protein expression was significantly lower in AAA (mean LRP1(AAA)/LRP1(Normal Control) = 0.51 +/- 0.28) than in normal control aortic tissues (mean LRP1(Normal Control)/LRP1(Normal Control) = 1 +/- 0.18) in our small sample cohort (p < .001). No significant correlation was shown between LRP1 protein expression and the size of AAA (p > .05). Conclusions: Our pilot result suggests that a reduction in LRP1 protein expression may be associated with aneurysm progression. (C) 2013 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.