No relationship between serum lipoprotein(a) and albumin concentrations in patients with acute phase response.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] and albumin concentrations in the serum of patients with acute phase response (APR). We have compared the Lp(a) concentrations and apolipoprotein [apo(a)] phenotypes of 40 controls with those of 40 APR patients with normoalbuminaemia and 40 APR patients with hypoalbuminaemia. We have also compared concentrations of haptoglobin (Hp) and alpha 1-antitrypsin (AAT) containing a high sialic acid content, similar to Lp(a). The mean serum Lp(a) concentration (SD) of the 40 controls was 0.190 (0.142) g/L. The mean serum Lp(a) concentration was 0.358 (0.257) g/L (P < 0.001) in 80 APR patients. However, there was no difference in serum Lp(a) concentrations between the APR patients with hypoalbuminaemia [0.353 (0.268) g/L] and the APR patients with normoalbuminaemia [0.362 (0.249) g/L]. No significant difference was found in the distributions of apo(a) phenotypes between the controls, the APR patients with hypoalbuminaemia, and the APR patients with normoalbuminaemia (P = 0.183). In the APR patients, the serum concentrations of AAT and Hp were respectively 2.709 (0.822) g/L and 2.631 (1.340) g/L, whereas those of normal controls were respectively 1.422 (0.219) g/L (P < 0.001) and 0.956 (0.442) g/L (P < 0.001). In conclusion, the Lp(a) is one of the acute phase reactants whose synthesis concurrently increases with other APRs, especially those with a high sialic acid content. The increase of the serum Lp(a) concentrations in the APR patients is not related to serum albumin concentration.