What happens if your body naturally lowers bad cholesterol?
PCSK9 loss of function is protective against extra-coronary atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in a large multi-ethnic cohort
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Some people have a broken gene that lowers their bad cholesterol their whole life. Scientists studied hundreds of thousands of veterans to see what happens to their health.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 548 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Some people have a broken gene that lowers their bad cholesterol their whole life. Scientists studied hundreds of thousands of veterans to see what happens to their health.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 548 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Publication
Authors
Small AM, Huffman JE, Klarin D, Lynch JA, Assimes T, DuVall S, Sun YV, Shere L, Natarajan P, Gaziano M, Rader DJ, Wilson PWF, Tsao PS, Chang KM, Cho K, O'Donnell CJ, Casas JP, Damrauer SM, VA Million Veteran Program
Related Content
Claims (7)
People with certain genetic changes that turn down a protein called PCSK9 tend to have lower 'bad' cholesterol their whole lives and are much less likely to get heart disease.
Loss-of-function mutations in the PCSK9 gene are associated with lifelong lower LDL cholesterol and a substantially reduced risk of coronary heart disease.
People who naturally have lower activity of a protein called PCSK9 don’t seem to have a higher chance of getting type 2 diabetes — which means drugs that target PCSK9 might not increase diabetes risk like some earlier studies worried they would.
In White people, having genes that naturally lower PCSK9 are linked to a lower chance of developing leg circulation problems, possibly because of how these genes affect cholesterol.
People born with a certain gene change that lowers their bad cholesterol over their whole life might have a lower chance of getting dementia, and this could be because of better blood vessel health in the brain.