Response to cholesterol-lowering drugs in familial defective apolipoprotein B-100.

The effect of cholestyramine and simvastatin, given separately or in combination, on serum lipid concentrations in 11 patients with heterozygous familial defective apolipoprotein B-100 was compared with that in 11 matched patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia. In both groups of patients there was a substantial fall in serum lipid levels in response to treatment. There were no significant differences between the reductions in serum total or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the two groups.