Study: New drug boosts good cholesterol
研究表明：新药可以促进产生有益胆固醇

☆ cholesterol 胆固醇
     boost 激发，升高

Thursday, April 8, 2004 Posted: 1404 GMT (2204 HKT)

The good cholesterol HDL, which reduces the risks of heart disease, can be dramatically boosted by an experimental drug that also lowers bad cholesterol, according to a preliminary study.
初步研究表明：一种实验药物可显著升高，对人体有益胆固醇HDL含量，HDL可降低罹患心脏病的危险性；该药还可降低有害胆固醇的含量。

☆ HDL  high density lipoprotein 高密度脂蛋白
     preliminary study 初步研究

Potentially offering an entirely new way to prevent heart attacks, researchers at University of Pennsylvania and Tufts University found that the drug doubled HDL in people with worrisomely low levels of the heart-healthy substance. The drug, called torcetrapib, also reduced LDL, the bad cholesterol.
一种全新的途径很有可能用来预防心脏病发作，宾夕法尼亚大学和塔夫脱大学的研究者发现，该药可成倍升高涉及心脏健康的HDL在含量异常偏低患者的体内含量。这种被命名为torcetrapib的药物还可降低有害胆固醇LDL的含量。

☆ heart attack 心脏病发作
     LDL  low density lipoproteins 低密度脂蛋白

Good cholesterol reduces the risk of heart disease; bad cholesterol raises it.
有益胆固醇降低罹患心脏疾病的危险；有害胆固醇则使该风险升高。

Until now, doctors have concentrated largely on lowering bad cholesterol by giving patients statin drugs, which are used by millions of Americans and reduce heart attacks by about one-third. Many experts hope to drive down heart disease still further by boosting good cholesterol, too, and several strategies are in testing.
直到现在，医生更多重视使用斯达汀（statin）类药物降低有害胆固醇，在美国有数百万人使用该类药物，心脏病发作率也降低了三分之一。很多专家希望通过升高有益胆固醇来进一步降低心脏病发生率，现在有几类新药正处于试验阶段。

☆ drive down 压低

The latest study was small, involving just 19 patients, but its striking results suggest torcetrapib can have a powerful effect.
最近进行的研究规模较小，仅有19名患者参加，但是其结果具有显著意义，提示torcetrapib具有很强的效应。

☆ striking 显著的

The drug is still a few years away from reaching the market. The next step will be to test its safety and effectiveness in much larger numbers of volunteers and show whether the higher HDL truly results in fewer heart attacks and strokes.

"One of the big questions that we do have with this drug is: Will using it to raise HDL levels from normal to high actually reduce risk in people who are at high risk?" said the study's senior author, Dr. Daniel Rader, Penn's director of preventive cardiovascular medicine.

Ultimately, the drug could be used in combination with statins to simultaneously lower a patient's bad cholesterol and boost good cholesterol.

The study, paid for in part by Pfizer Inc., torcetrapib's maker, was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.