Effective exosomes reduction in hypercholesterinemic patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases by lipoprotein apheresis: Exosomes apheresis.

Introduction: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been identified as playing a role in atherosclerosis.

Methods: A group of 37 hypercholesterolemic patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD) and 9 patients requiring hemodialysis (HD) were selected for the study.

Results: EVs were comparably reduced by various LA methods (Thermo: 87.66% ± 3.64, DALI: 87.96% ± 4.81, H.E.L.P.: 83.38% ± 11.98; represented as SEM). However, LDL-C (66%; 55%; 75%) and Lp(a) (72%; 67%; 79%) were less effectively reduced by DALI. There was no significant difference in the reduction of EVs when comparing different techniques, such as hemoperfusion (DALI; n = 13), a precipitation (H.E.L.P.; n = 5), and a double filtration procedure (Thermofiltration; n = 19). Additionally, no effect of hemodialysis on EVs reduction was found.

Conclusions: The study suggests that EVs can be effectively removed by various LA procedures, and this effect appears to be independent of the specific LA procedure used, as compared to hemodialysis.