A mathematical model to estimate cholesterylester transfer protein (CETP) triglycerides flux in human plasma

BACKGROUND: Cholesterylester transfer protein (CETP) modulates the composition of various lipoproteins associated with cardiovascular disease. Despite its central role in lipoprotein metabolism, its mode of action is still not fully understood. Here we present a simple way to estimate CETP-mediated lipid fluxes between different lipoprotein fractions. RESULTS: The model derived adequately describes the observed findings, especially regarding low- and high dense lipoproteins (LDL and HDL), delivering correlation coefficients of R(2) = 0.567 (p < 0.001) and R(2) = 0.466 (p < 0.001), respectively. These estimated fluxes correlate best among all other measured concentrations and ‘lipid per lipoprotein’ ratios to the observed fluxes. CONCLUSION: Our model approach is independent of CETP-action’s exact mechanistic mode. It is simple and easy to apply, and may be a useful tool in revealing CETP’s ambiguous role in lipid metabolism. The model mirrors a diffusion-like exchange of triglycerides between lipoproteins. Cholesteryl ester and triglyceride concentrations measured in HDL, LDL and VLDL are sufficient to apply the model on a plasma sample. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12918-019-0679-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.