In Milan (or as the Italians say, Milano) Italy some people have a mutation of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol called Apolipoprotein A-I Milano which is suspected of reducing the risk of heart and cardiovascular disease. In order to investigate whether Apo A-I Milano really does reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases researchers at Cedars-Sinai put human variations of HDL choelsterol into mice and then measured the resulting mice. While normal human HDL cholesterol reduced plaque build-up by 25% the Apo A-I Milano version of the gene reduces plaque build-up by 65%.

LOS ANGELES - Transfer of a gene that produces a mutant form of good cholesterol provides significantly better anti-plaque and anti-inflammation benefits than therapy using the "normal" HDL gene, according to a mouse study conducted by cardiology researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and reported in the Oct. 3 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Apolipoprotein A-I is a naturally occurring component of normal HDL (high-density lipoprotein), the "good" cholesterol that circulates in