Association of plasma endothelial lipase levels on cognitive impairment

BACKGROUND: Peripheral high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) has been known to influx into the brain and be inversely associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, recent prospective studies of the association between HDL-C and AD have yielded inconsistent results. Here, we examined the association between the endothelial lipase (EL), which is known to be major determinant of HDL-C levels, and cognitive function. METHOD: We compared plasma from 20 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), 38 persons with mild cognitive impairment, and 51 cognitively normal controls. Plasma EL levels were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: EL levels were inversely correlated with HDL-C, as previously reported; however, there were no mean differences in plasma EL between the diagnostic groups. An analysis by classification of dementia severity according to clinical dementia rating (CDR) showed that the EL levels were significantly higher in the CDR1 group (mild dementia), as compared to CDR0 (no dementia), CDR0.5 (very mild), and CDR2 (moderate) groups. Prior to moderate dementia stage, trends analysis showed that EL levels tended to increase with increasing severity (p for trend = 0.013). Consistently, elevated EL levels were significantly correlated with the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score (r = − 0.29, p = 0.003). Logistic regression for association between plasma EL and cognitive impairment (MMSE score ≤ 25) showed that participants with EL levels in the upper range (> 31.6 ng/ml) have a higher adjusted odds ratio of cognitive impairment than those within the lower EL range. CONCLUSION: Findings from the present study reflect the association of EL and cognition, suggesting that the individuals with elevated plasma EL concentration are at an increased risk of cognitive impairment. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-019-2174-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.