Patent ID: 8703698

Claim:
A method for treating atherosclerosis or regressing or decreasing formation of arterial atherosclerotic lesions in a subject in need thereof comprising treating the subject by administering to the subject an effective amount of a pharmaceutical composition comprising: an isolated peptide which enhances cholesterol ester hydrolase activity, said isolated peptide comprising a formula: X 1 X 2 X 3 X 4 X 5 X 6 X 7 X 8 X 9 X 10 X 11 X 12 X 13 X 14 X 15 X 16 X 17 X 18 (SEQ ID NO: 29), wherein X 1 and X 9 , X 12 or X 18 are amino acids capable of forming a salt bridge; X 6 is glutamic acid or lysine or an amino acid which is a conservative substitution thereof; X 2 , X 3 , X 4 , X 5 , X 7 , X 8 , X 10 , X 11 , X 13 , X 14 , X 15 , X 16 , and X 17 are independently any amino acid; and one or more amino acids of said formula is a D amino acid; and a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle, wherein said isolated peptide has fewer than or equal to 35 amino acid residues and has at least 90% sequence identity with (SEQ ID NO: 4) DTIADQEANRHGRSGKDPNYYRPPGLPDKY; (SEQ ID NO: 8) ADQEANRHGRSGKDPNYYRPPGLPDKY; (SEQ ID NO: 9) ADQEANRHGRSGKDPNYYRPPGLPAKY; (D-form; SEQ ID NO: 10) ADQEANRHGRSGKDPNYYRPPGLPAKY; (SEQ ID NO: 24) ADQAANEWGRSGKDPNHFRPAGLPEKY; (SEQ ID NO: 25) ADQEANRHGRSGKDPNYYR; (SEQ ID NO: 11) ADQAANKWGRSGRDPNHFR; (SEQ ID NO: 12) ADQAANEWGRSGKDPNHFR; or (SEQ ID NO: 26) DQAANKWGRSGRDPNHFR.