Abstract
We have studied the effects of elastase on the development of atherosclerosis in 6 patients with essential hypertension, 5 patients with ischemic heart disease, 3 patients with diabetes mellitus and 4 patients with hyperlipidemia type II. Elastase was orally administered to the patients at the dose of 5, 400U/day for 1 or 1.5 years. Before and after the treatment, the following determinations were carried out: Aortic calcification index (ACT) and pulse wave velocity (PWV), the indicators of atherosclerosis, and serum levels of lipids, apolipoproteins (apo), lipoprotein (Lp) electrophoresis and Ca.
The results obtained from the differences between before and after elastase administration were as follows.
Elastase administration caused the significant decrease of both percent ACT and PWV.
There were no significant changes in terms of serum lipids such as triglycerides, HDL-C, malondialdehyde and Ca except cholesterol which was significantly elevated.
The percent changes of apo A-I were slightly elevated while apo B/A-I ratio tended to be decreased. In addition, there was a significant increase α-Lp or a significant decrease in both β- and pre β-Lps.
The present observations indicate that elastase could be a protective drug against the progression of atherosclerosis even though calcified atherosclerosis.
