YELLOW II Study: Reduction in Coronary Yellow Plaque, Lipids and Vascular Inflammation by Aggressive Lipid Lowering

Summary

Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains a leading cause of death in most countries. It is well known that the reduction of cholesterol levels by statin therapy is associated with significant decreases in plaque burden. REVERSAL, ASTEROID, and more recently the SATURN II trial showed that in patients with CAD, lipid lowering with atorvastatin or rosuvastatin respectively reduced progression of coronary atherosclerosis, even causing plaque regression of some lesions. CAD clinical events are related to plaque instability due to lipid content and activity within the atherosclerotic plaque. The investigators recently completed the YELLOW I study, and identified that intensive statin therapy (rosuvastatin 40mg) was associated with a reduction in the amount of lipid in obstructive coronary plaques, as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The YELLOW II study is designed to expand and build upon these results, and to provide mechanistic insights into the potential benefits of intensive statin therapy on atherosclerotic plaques.

Timeline

Start

2013-07

Primary completion

2015-04

Completion

2015-04

Publications

• Kini AS, Vengrenyuk Y, Shameer K, Maehara A, Purushothaman M, Yoshimura T, Matsumura M, Aquino M, Haider N, Johnson KW, Readhead B, Kidd BA, Feig JE, Krishnan P, Sweeny J, Milind M, Moreno P, Mehran R, Kovacic JC, Baber U, Dudley JT, Narula J, Sharma S. Intracoronary Imaging, Cholesterol Efflux, and Transcriptomes After Intensive Statin Treatment: The YELLOW II Study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017 Feb 14;69(6):628-640. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2016.10.029. Epub 2016 Oct 29.

Drugs

Indications