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		Search Text: Home/< Back ToThe Science/Lipoprotein Metabolism
  Lipoprotein Metabolism
    The Lipoprotein Metabolism Laboratory, led by Dr. Alan T. Remaley, seeks to better understand lipoprotein metabolism and to translate new insights gained from basic biochemistry, cell biology, and transgenic animal models into much-needed clinical advances in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
    On This Page
    
          Alan Remaley
  Alan Remaley, M.D., Ph.D.
          Senior Investigator
          Email
      Meet the Team
            Contact us
  Senior Investigator Research Interests
            
  Research Interests
              Cholesterol has a bad reputation, associated with cardiovascular disease, the leading worldwide cause of morbidity and mortality. Cholesterol, however, plays a vital role in normal cellular processes; hence its cellular and whole body distribution is subject to complex, dynamic regulation by circulating lipoproteins and enzymes. Dr. Remaley’s laboratory seeks to better understand lipoprotein metabolism and to translate new insights gained from basic biochemistry, cell biology, and transgenic animal models into much needed clinical advances in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Remaley’s research has focused on the beneficial role of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the so-called “good cholesterol.” HDL, which is a complex of the protein apoA-I with phospholipids, removes excess cholesterol from peripheral tissues, such as the arterial wall, and transports it to the liver and intestine for excretion from the body. It has been shown that this process—the reverse cholesterol transport pathway—can be markedly stimulated by infusing HDL made with either purified or recombinant apoA-I and phospholipids. HDL infusion has been proposed as an acute therapy for patients with acute coronary syndrome who are at imminent risk for developing myocardial infarction. His laboratory has developed small synthetic peptide mimetics of apoA-I, and like the full-length protein, these peptides mobilize excess cholesterol from cells and have been shown to reduce atherosclerosis and inflammation in animal models. One of the peptides developed by his laboratory has been licensed to an outside company and is now undergoing pre-clinical toxicology studies for evaluation as a possible new therapy.

Dr. Remaley’s laboratory also investigates lecithin cholesterol acyl transferase (LCAT), a plasma enzyme that esterifies cholesterol with a fatty acid, which sequesters it on HDL and facilitates its removal from the body. Two rare diseases—fish-eye disease (FED) and familial LCAT deficiency (FLT)—result from a lack of LCAT. In a cooperative research and development agreement with an outside company, his laboratory has been instrumental in the development of recombinant LCAT as a possible therapy. It is currently being tested at the NIH in early stage clinical trials for FLT and for acute coronary syndrome. Preclinical animal studies from Dr. Remaley’s laboratory have also demonstrated that a combination therapy of recombinant LCAT and HDL acts synergistically in the removal of cholesterol from cells.

Another focus of Dr. Remaley’s work is on the main cholesterol efflux transporter from cells, namely the ATP-binding cassette transporter 1 (ABCA1). Tangier disease, a rare genetic disorder characterized decades ago by Dr. Donald S. Frederickson at the NIH, is defective in the ABCA1 transporter and provided an early clue to the importance of the reverse cholesterol transport pathway. Dr. Remaley’s laboratory is now focused on how the ABCA1 transporter interacts with other intracellular proteins, as well as with extracellular cholesterol acceptor proteins, such as apoA-I, during the cholesterol efflux process.

In Dr. Remaley’s view, the opportunity to study and learn from patients at the NIH with rare genetic disorders of cholesterol metabolism is a distinguishing characteristic of the work being done in his laboratory. The exposure to patients with rare diseases often leads to new insights into common disease processes that can be obtained in no other manner and inspires him and his co-workers to translate their basic science findings in cholesterol metabolism into new therapies for cardiovascular disease.
  Videos
Images






          Group photo of lab members.
      
        Click the image to expand
    “It takes a village to do a good science” is a motto of Dr. Alan Remaley’s team of the Lipoprotein Metabolism Laboratory. “One of the best things about the NIH is we get to work with the best people from all over the world” according to Dr. Remaley.


                      Cover image of Science Translational Medicine. Illustration shows a simulation snapshot of D6PV peptide interacting with a trilayer of lipids.
      
        Click the image to expand
    Cover page of the vol. 12, no. 528 issue of Science Translational Medicine journal that highlights a research article of Wolska et al. entitled “A dual apolipoprotein C-II mimetic-apolipoprotein C-III antagonist peptide lowers plasma triglycerides.” published in the journal in Jan 29, 2020, doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaw7905.

Illustration shows a simulation snapshot of D6PV peptide interacting with a trilayer of lipids.


                      Our patents United States Patent and Trademark Office USPTO
      
        Click the image to expand
    *Our team, thanks to the great and professional work of the NHLBI Office of Technology Transfer and Development, has been patenting their discoveries with USPTO.*


                      Our clinical trials NIH U.S. National Library of Medicine ClinicalTrials.gov
      
        Click the image to expand
    Our team, lead by Dr. Marcelo Amar, runs two clinical trials on potential treatments for preventing and reducing cardiovascular diseases risk. First trial is a Fish Oil study and the second one is a Fx-5A peptide study. Please check the details and eligibility criteria in the links provided.


                      Dr. Alan Remaley and Maureen Sampson pointing at a blackboard displaying the Sampson Equation
      
        Click the image to expand
    Dr. Alan Remaley and Maureen Sampson, a research Medical Technologist in the NIH Department of Laboratory Medicine, have shared their equation calculator for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), called Sampson-NIH equation for LDL-C. It has been published in JAMA Cardiology and is available for free to researchers and clinicians to improve testing of LDL-C in patients at risk for heart diseases.

Other equations of the team are available at https://figshare.com/authors/Maureen_Sampson/9315995 and include Sampson-NIH equations for small dense LDL-C, phenotype algorithm, and enhanced VLDL-C equations.


                      “Through an estimated atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score called eASCVD, we developed an adjunctive tool for the primary prevention of ASCVD that can also be used as a decision aid for statin therapy.” Anna Wolska, M.S., Ph.D., F.A.H.A. Staff Scientist, Laboratory of Lipoprotein Metabolism; NIH-NHLBI logo; Red Background. Headshot of Dr. Anna Wolska
      
        Click the image to expand
    Determining atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk is crucial for its prevention. M. Sampson and Dr. A. Wolska and colleagues have recently published a paper in Clinical Chemistry journal on a new estimated ASCVD risk score called eASCVD that can be automatically computed by clinical laboratories for all patients with a fasting standard lipid panel to improve the primary prevention of ASCVD. This research was featured by the NHLBI on their website in an article Calculating risks for heart disease | NHLBI, NIH Access to the free eASCVD calculator is available at https://figshare.com/articles/software/Sampson_eASCVD_equation_calculator/14222852
      Group photo of lab members.


                      
Cover image of Science Translational Medicine. Illustration shows a simulation snapshot of D6PV peptide interacting with a trilayer of lipids.


                      
Our patents United States Patent and Trademark Office USPTO


                      
Our clinical trials NIH U.S. National Library of Medicine ClinicalTrials.gov


                      
Dr. Alan Remaley and Maureen Sampson pointing at a blackboard displaying the Sampson Equation


                      
“Through an estimated atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score called eASCVD, we developed an adjunctive tool for the primary prevention of ASCVD that can also be used as a decision aid for statin therapy.” Anna Wolska, M.S., Ph.D., F.A.H.A. Staff Scientist, Laboratory of Lipoprotein Metabolism; NIH-NHLBI logo; Red Background. Headshot of Dr. Anna Wolska
Clinical Trials and Studies
Effect of Dietary Omega-7 Palmitoleic Acid-Rich Oil on Lipoprotein Metabolism and Satiety in Adults
				Recruiting
											
											Adult, Older Adult
					
											All Genders
					
																		Accepting Healthy Volunteers

				Are you interested in the heart-healthy benefits of omega-7 fatty acids? One of the most common types is palmitoleic acid. Researchers want to learn more about the potential benefits of these fatty acids, which can be found in certain fish and nuts. Participants must be at least 18 years old without known cardiovascular disease. This study is located at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.An Intravenous, Open-Label, Dose Escalation Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Fx-5A in Healthy Volunteers
				Recruiting
											
											Adult, Older Adult
					
											All Genders
					
																		Accepting Healthy Volunteers

				Are you a healthy adult who is interested in helping researchers learn about heart disease? This study is testing a new medicine called Fx-5A that may be used to treat inflammation and various heart and blood vessel diseases. Participants will have an infusion of Fx-5A while researchers monitor the electrical activity of their heart using a non-invasive, painless heart test called an electrocardiogram (EKG). To participate in this study, you must not be pregnant or have any heart-related conditions. This study is located at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Featured Publications
                Transgelin: a new gene involved in LDL endocytosis identified by a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screen.
            Authors:Lucero D, Dikilitas O, Mendelson MM, Aligabi Z, Islam P, Neufeld EB, Bansal AT, Freeman LA, Vaisman B, Tang J, Combs CA, Li Y, Voros S, Kullo IJ, Remaley AT
                                                                                                                        
            J Lipid Res
      
                2022 Jan 01;63(1):
        Read Publication
                      Supplementation with saury oil, a fish oil high in omega-11 monounsaturated fatty acids, improves plasma lipids in healthy subjects.
            Authors:Yang ZH, Amar M, Sorokin AV, Troendle J, Courville AB, Sampson M, Playford MP, Yang S, Stagliano M, Ling C, Donkor K, Shamburek RD, Mehta NN, Remaley AT
                                                                                                                        
            J Clin Lipidol
      
                2020 Jan 01;14(1):53-65
        Read Publication
                      A Dual Apolipoprotein C-II Mimetic-Apolipoprotein C-III Antagonist Peptide Lowers Plasma Triglycerides.
            Authors:Wolska A, Lo L, Sviridov DO, Pourmousa M, Pryor M, Ghosh SS, Kakkar R, Davidson M, Wilson S, Pastor RW, Goldberg IJ, Basu D, Drake SK, Cougnoux A, Wu MJ, Neher SB, Freeman LA, Tang J, Amar M, Devalaraja M, Remaley AT.
                                                                                                                        
            Sci Transl Med.
      
                2020 Jan 20;12(528):
        Read Publication
                      A New Equation for Calculation of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Patients With Normolipidemia and/or Hypertriglyceridemia.
            Authors:Sampson M, Ling C, Sun Q, Harb R, Ashmaig M, Warnick R, Sethi A, Fleming JK, Otvos JD, Meeusen JW, Delaney SR, Jaffe AS, Shamburek R, Amar M, Remaley AT
                                                                                                                        
            JAMA Cardiol
      
                2020 May 01;5(5):540-548
        Read Publication
                      Cell-free high-density lipoprotein-specific phospholipid efflux assay predicts incident cardiovascular disease
            Authors:Masaki Sato, Edward B Neufeld, Martin P Playford, Yu Lei, Alexander V Sorokin, Angel M Aponte, Lita A Freeman, Scott M Gordon, Amit K Dey, Kianoush Jeiran, Masato Hamasaki, Maureen L Sampson, Robert D Shamburek, Jingrong Tang, Marcus Y Chen, Kazuhiko Kota
                                                                
            J Clin Invest.
      
                2023 Jul 20:
        Read Publication
                                View More Publications
  Meet the Team

    Alan Remaley

            Alan Remaley, M.D., Ph.D.
                Senior Investigator
                Alan Remaley received his B.S. in biochemistry and chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh in 1981, and a M.D. and Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Pittsburgh in 1987. In 1990, he completed a residency in clinical pathology at the University of Pennsylvania and became board-certified in clinical pathology in 1992. He joined the NIH in 1990 as a medical staff fellow and did a postdoctoral fellowship on lipoprotein metabolism in the Molecular Disease Branch at the NHLBI. In 1995, Dr. Remaley became a senior staff member of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the NIH, where he is currently the Director of the Immunoassay and Special Chemistry section. In 2007, he became the Section Chief of the Lipoprotein Metabolism laboratory in the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Branch of the NHLBI. Dr. Remaley has received numerous honors and awards over his career and is a Captain in the United States Public Health Service. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and is on the editorial board of several journals, including Journal of Lipid Research, Journal of Pediatric Biochemistry, Atherosclerosis, and Clinical Chemistry. Dr. Remaley is a member of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC), College of American Pathologists, American Heart Association, and National Lipid Association.
    
          Contact the lab
    10 Center DrBethesda, MD 20814United States
        Phone:
                    301-402-9796
                Fax:
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            Marcelo Amar, M.D., FASHG, FAHA
        

    Senior Staff Clinician / Medical Officer

        mamar@mail.nih.gov
            Milton Pryor
    
            Milton Pryor
        

    Veterinary Support Staff

        pryorm@mail.nih.gov
            Edward Neufeld
    
            Edward Neufeld, Ph.D.
        

    Staff Scientist

        neufelde@mail.nih.gov
            Denis Sviridov
    
            Denis Sviridov, M.D., Ph.D.
        

    Staff Scientist

        sviridovd@nhlbi.nih.gov
            Jingrong Tang
    
            Jingrong Tang, MD, Ph.D.
        

    Biologist

        tangj@mail.nih.gov
            Zhihong Yang
    
            Zhi-Hong  Yang, MSc, Ph.D.
        

    Scientist

        zhihong.yang@nih.gov
        
                    View
                    Zhi-Hong 's Profile
            Anna Wolska
    
            Anna Wolska, MS, Ph.D., FAHA
        

    Staff Scientist

        anna.wolska@nih.gov
        
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                    Anna's Profile
            Amaury Dasseux
    
            Amaury Dasseux, BS, MS
        

    Intramural Research Training Fellow (IRTA)

        amaury.dasseux@nih.gov
        
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                    Amaury's Profile
            Diego Lucero
    
            Diego Lucero, Ph.D.
        

    Research Fellow

        diego.lucero3@nih.gov
        
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                    Diego's Profile
            Zahra Aligabi
    
            Zahra  Aligabi, BS, MS
        

    Special Volunteer

        zahra.aligabi@nih.gov
        
                    View
                    Zahra 's Profile
            Mart Riemund
    
            Mart Reimund, Ph.D.
        

    Postdoctoral Fellow

        mart.reimund@nih.gov
        
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                    Mart's Profile
            JamesOtvos
    
            James Otvos, Ph.D.
        

    Special Volunteer

        jim.otvos@nih.gov
            Sotirios Karathanasis
    
            Sotirios Karathanasis, Ph.D.
        

    Special Volunteer

        sotirios.karathanasis@nih.gov
            Justine Cole, MBChB, MMed, FCPath (SA)
    
            Justine Cole, MBChB, MMed, FCPath (SA)
        

    Special Volunteer

        justine.dacostasantos@nih.gov
        
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                    Justine's Profile
            Rafael Zubirán, MD
    
            Rafael Zubirán, M.D.
        

    Special Volunteer

        rafael.zubiran@nih.gov
        
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                    Rafael's Profile
            Julia Kun, BS
    
            Julia Kun, B.S.
        

    Intramural Research Training Fellow (IRTA)

        julia.kun@nih.gov
        
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                    Julia's Profile
            Hao Dong Tian
        

    IRTA Postbac Fellow

        haodong.tian@nih.gov
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