Method for lowering cholesterol

Abstract

The present invention relates to the diagnosis, risk assessment, prevention, and treatment of Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (SDAT). More specifically the present invention relates to the measurement of ethanolamine phospholipids in human serum. Subsets of these molecules are significantly altered in subjects with pathologically confirmed deposits of β-amyloid versus subjects without β-amyloid deposits and in subjects with a clinical manifestation of dementia consistent with a diagnosis of SDAT versus non-demented controls. Further, the invention relates to the diagnosis of various stages of SDAT, the early detection and prevention of SDAT symptoms, the treatment of SDAT, the differential diagnosis of non-SDAT dementia, and the identification of molecular targets for which chemical or biological treatments can be designed for the therapeutic intervention of SDAT. The present invention also relates to methods of using a molecular diagnostic assay to direct and select the appropriate therapeutic intervention for subjects suffering from dementia. The present invention also relates to small molecules or metabolites that are found to have significantly different abundances between persons with a clinical manifestation of SDAT and normal, non-demented patients.

1 . A method of lowering cholesterol in a patient in need thereof by administering to said patient a therapeutic effective amount of a compound selected from the group consisting of: Dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP); 1-acyl-DHAP; 1-alkyl-DHAP; 1-alkyl-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P); 1-alkyl, 2-acyl-G3P; 1-alkyl, 2-acyl-glycerol; 1-alkyl, 2-acyl-glycerylphosphatidylethanolamine (GPE), 1-alkyl, diacyl glycerol (sn-1=16:0, sn-2=docosohexaenoic acid (DHA); sn-3=DHA) (sn-1 position has an alkyl ether bond, sn-2 and sn-3 positions have acyl bonds); 1-alkyl diacyl glycerol (sn-1=16:0, sn-2=18:1, sn-3=18:1) (sn-1 position has an alkyl ether bond, sn-2 and sn-3 positions have acyl bonds); triacyl glycerol (sn-1=16:0, sn-2=DHA, sn-3=DHA) (all three positions have acyl bonds); and triacyl glycerol (sn-1=16:0, sn-2=18:1, sn-3=18:1) (all three positions have acyl bonds) and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the compound is a 1-alkyl, 2-acyl-glycerol. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the sidechains include a saturated or unsaturated fatty acid of the following type:
 16:0, 18:0, 18:1, 18:2, 18:3 as alkyl at the sn-1 position, and/or   16:0, 18:0, 18:1, 18:2, 18:3, 20:4, 20:5, 20:6, 22:4, 22:5, 22:6, 24:4, 24:5, 24:6 as acyl at the sn-2 position.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the 1-alkyl, 2-acyl-glycerol is of the formula: 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.