The capacity of HDLs to accept cholesterol effluxing from macrophages has been proposed as a new biomarker of HDLs' anti-atherogenic function. Whether cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC) is independent of HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) as a biomarker for coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in a generally healthy primary-prevention population remains unanswered. Therefore, in this nested case-control study, we simultaneously assessed CEC (using J774 cells) and plasma HDL-C levels as predictors of CHD in healthy middle-aged and older men not receiving treatment affecting blood lipid concentrations.
