Lipids, Apolipoproteins, and Inflammatory Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Risk: What Have We Learned?

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the first cause of death in the world. CVD risk is influenced by multiple factors, some nonmodifiable such as age, sex, and genetic background, and others modifiable. Great progress has been made over the last decades in the identification of biomarkers of incident or recurrent CV risk and surrogate endpoints of CV outcomes. We present the current state of knowledge for CV biomarkers in plasma including lipids, apolipoproteins, inflammation-related, and emerging omics-based biomarkers. Clinically validated surrogate endpoints for CV outcomes include plasma low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol reduction, and plasma triglyceride reduction is a likely relevant surrogate endpoint. High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol is not a validated surrogate endpoint, but is a useful biomarker of CV risk. CV risk biomarkers of interest include apolipoprotein B and non-HDL-cholesterol, lipoprotein (a), C-reactive protein, and recently, genetic and protein-based risk scores and gut microbiota-derived trimethylamine oxide levels.