ASSESSING CORONARY HEART DISEASE (CHD) RISKS WITH PUFA BIOMARKERS 

(An International Workshop)

8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. June 27, 2004, The Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK
(A Satellite Workshop of the ISSFAL Congress 2004, June 27-July 1, 2004)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Justification and Timing

Objectives of the Workshop

Organizing Committee, Other Panel Members and Other Speakers

Agenda

Proceedings of the workshop (to be posted September 2004)

JUSTIFICATION AND TIMING:

There is heightened interest in the potential risk-reducing effects of long-chain (LC) omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in coronary heart disease (CHD). For example, the Office of Dietary Supplements of the National Institutes of Health, U.S.A. is in the process of performing an evidence-based review of the role of Omega-3 PUFA in CHD. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is evaluating the physiological role of omega-3 PUFA in reducing risk of CHD. The roles of the n-3 LC-PUFAs eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as anti-hypertriglyceridemic agents has been established. Similarly, there is emerging clinical evidence for positive, elevating effects of n-3 LC-PUFA supplementation on HDL2 levels, on increasing particle size of LDLs and therefore diminishing atherosclerotic effects of remnant lipoproteins and very low density lipoproteins, on reducing blood pressure and on their capacity to reduce the risk of lethal coronary fibrillations. 

During the past few months, a new PUFA biomarker has been developed for the assessment of risk-reduction in CHD. The red blood cell (RBC) membrane Omega-3 Index or simply the Omega-3 Index assesses the total EPA+DHA content of RBC membrane as % of total fatty acids in the membrane. This biomarker provides ranges for an individual's risks of SCD and therefore CHD and proposes high, intermediate and low risk ranges by delineating highest risk range as <4% EPA+DHA, the intermediate risk range as 4-8 EPA+DHA% and the lowest risk range as 8-10% EPA+DHA. Thus, carefully raising a person's RBC Omega-3 Index value from 2% to about 10% EPA+DHA could lower the person's risk of SCD by as much as 50%. The RBC Omega-3 Index was developed by Drs. William S. Harris and Clemens von Schacky.

Given the above and that over the years the n-6/n-3 ratio as well as other LC-PUFA ratios e.g., EPA: cholesterol have been promoted as a measure of CHD risk reduction, it is both timely and justified to present, discuss and evaluate all these markers as relevant and immediately utilizable in predicting the physiological outcomes of CHD and the lethal pathology that could ensue when omega-3 levels are low. Therefore, the objective of this workshop is to evaluate the evidence and recommend valid markers for assessing the risk of developing CHD or dying from it. Such markers could enable the cardiologist and other physicians, nutritionists and dieticians or other health-related professional to prescribe the appropriate therapeutic intervention, i.e. supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP ON ASSESSING CHD RISKS WITH PUFA BIOMARKERS: 

1. To present to a scientific panel and an audience of involved professionals a series of PUFA-based biomarkers for assessing an individual's risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) or dying from sudden cardiac death (SCD). 

2. To evaluate the preventive or therapeutic value of the presented biomarkers and to assess their appropriateness for broad-scale use by cardiologists and other medical practitioners to predict the probability of an individual's risk of SCD, onset of CHD and/or occurrence of a major, non-fatal coronary event.

3. To develop and recommend guidelines for lowering the risk of death from CHD with n-3 LC PUFA supplementation.

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ORGANISING COMMITTEE:

n	Andrew J. Sinclair, Ph.D., Workshop Chair, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
n	Christine Albert, M.D., M.P.H., Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University Medical School, Cambridge,  MA, U.S.A.
n	William S. Harris, Ph.D., Mid America Heart Institute and University of Missouri-Kansas City, U.S.A.
n	Clemens von Schacky, M.D., Medizinische Klinik, Klinikum Innenstadt, University of Munich, Germany
n	Christine Williams, Ph.D., School of Food Biosciences, University of Reading, U.K.
n	Philip Calder, Professor, Institute of Human Nutrition, University of Southampton, U.K
n	Robert Katz, Ph.D., Omega-3 Research Institute, Inc. Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.

Additional Panel Members:

n	Robert G. Ackman, Ph.D., Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
n	William E.M. Lands, Ph.D., Rockville, Maryland, U.S.A.
n	Trevor A. Mori, Ph.D. University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia.
n	Arthur Spector, M.D., University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.A.
n	Parveen Yaqoob, Ph.D., University of Reading, U.K.

Additional Speakers:

n	Luigi Mondello, Ph.D. University of Messina, Italy
n	Jonathan Curtis, Ph.D. Ocean Nutrition Canada, Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
n	Norman Salem, Jr., Ph.D., NIAAA, NIH, Rockville, Maryland, U.S.A.

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 SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS FOR SHORT PRESENTATIONS: 

Criteria for selection:

Relevance to the aims of the workshop.

Scientific content:

The abstract should contain new data on biomarkers of n-3 and/or n-6 status as it relates to risk for CHD.

Review:

The abstracts will be reviewed by a subgroup of members of the organizing committee chaired by Andrew J. Sinclair, Ph.D. 

Please submit your one page abstract by email to Dr. Sinclair, at andrew.sinclair@rmit.edu.au by Friday, June 4, 2004.

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