The answer is that there is a particular amino acid in a protein in the wall of the artery - lysine -
johnwen - I still don't see the problem or error. The "protein" Pauling is referring to is collagen. The important knowledge (according to his video lecture) was that only Lp(a) was found in post mortem aortas (not ordinary LDL). This finding brought to his attention by Matthias Rath made him wonder why only Lp(a). Well, there are the lysine binding sites on Lp(a). When the lesion in the arterial wall occurs, because of a weakness or lack of collagen, parts of the "broken" collagen protein are exposed at the site of lesion - and Lp(a) sticks to the lysine strands (broken?) that are exposed.
Your analysis sounds similar to Dr. Levy's in STOP AMERICA'S #1 KILLER, which does not focus on Lp(a), but does support the finding that all risk factors are caused by scurvy - focal or localized scurvy at the point of the lesion.
Davids1 - Pauling said in a video lecture on Cancer that the reason he took 18 grams was because an animal of his body weight would have produced 9 grams daily, and his experiments showed that about 50% of the vitamin C taken by mouth breaks down and is not bioavailable. It was common knowledge at the Pauling institute that Dr. Cathcart's daily intake was 60 grams. (Perhaps he was fighting something?) In one of those strange coincidences, one of our customers returned our vitamin C powder (ascorbic acid) saying that when she took a 1/4 teaspoon - she was on the pot all day long! There are a few people out there who cannot reach even the 4000 mg daily that Cathcart though almost all people could reach (in divided doses).
And Davids1 - I thought it was interesting that your bowel tolerance "went up" when taking vitamin C with proteins. When a bowel tolerance increases, less makes it to the rectum, meaning more is absorbed into the blood. This observation matches what Sherry Lewin wrote in the book VITAMIN C: ITS BIOLOGY AND MEDICAL POTENTIAL (1976?). That proteins (amino acids) join with vitamin C in the gut, "chelating" the ascorbate ion, allowing more of it to be absorbed (and that conversely, carbohydrates taken with vitamin C tend to break it down and make less bioavailable.) This may be one reason the vitamin C and lysine (amino acid) powders are so effective!
Finally, people who have been skeptical about the idea that mercury, primarily from vaccines, causes brain damage (autism), have pointed out the low levels of mercury in autistic's hair. Other experts say that is the point! These autistics do not excrete mercury, and losing it in the hair is one form of excretion.