PLASMA-LIPOPROTEIN ALTERATIONS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATOCELLULAR LIVER-DISEASE RESULTING FROM ALCOHOL-ABUSE - EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL INTAKE CESSATION

Cholesterol and triglyceride in plasma and lipoprotein fractions and serum apoprotein concentrations were measured in 51 chronic alcoholic subjects; 23 had minimal or mild hepatic changes (steatosis and/or fibrosis) and 28 had cirrhosis. Of the latter, 16 had stopped alcohol consumption at least 3 months before the study, while the other 12 and all the mildly affected patients had continued drinking. None of the patients presented with cholestasis or alcoholic hepatitis. The control group was composed of 15 healthy, non-drinking volunteers selected from the hospital staff with an age- and sex-distribution similar to that of the alcoholic group. Patients with minimal hepatic changes had plasma total cholesterol concentrations within the ranges of the normal population but with increased high density lipoprotein and decreased low density lipoprotein fractions. Total plasma triglyceride values were not significantly elevated but the distributions in the low density lipoprotein and high density lipoprotein fractions were significantly increased in patients compared to controls. This alteration was accompanied by a consistent increase in serum apolipoprotein C-III concentration. Conversely, in patients with cirrhosis, serum concentrations of apolipoproteins A-I and B were significantly lower and were reflected in the cholesterol concentrations in the lipoprotein fractions. Comparisons between abstainers and non-abstainers within the group with cirrhosis indicated that cessation of alcohol intake was not sufficient to rectify lipoprotein dysfunction following damage from cirrhosis. (C) Journal of Hepatology.