Supplementary key words apolipoprotein • reverse cholesterol transport • high density lipoprotein • mass spectrometry • stable isotope tracers • [d 7 ]cholesterol Many epidemiologic studies have reported an inverse relationship between coronary artery disease (CAD) events and HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels (1-3). It is commonly known that the inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) leads to an increase in HDL-C levels in blood. Bowman et al. (4) recently reported that the inhibition of CETP by anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events. In contrast, recent intervention trials have shown that treatment with CETP inhibitors or niacin fails to reduce CAD risk despite increasing HDL-C levels. Moreover, paradoxically, a high mortality rate was reported among individuals in the general population with extremely high HDL-C (5). It has since been suggested that quality is as important as quantity when measuring HDL (6-9). HDL is known to mediate reverse cholesterol transport (RCT), act as an antioxidant, suppress inflammation, and improve endothelial function (10). In RCT, accumulated cholesterol is transported from peripheral tissues back to the liver, a process that requires HDL and apoA-1 (10-12). The first step in RCT is cholesterol efflux from macrophages; this is thought to be the most important Abstract The incidence of cardiovascular events correlates inversely with cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC) more than with HDL-cholesterol level. The measurement of CEC is used to qualify cardiovascular disease risk and is conventionally performed with radioisotope (RI)-labeled cholesterol. Here, we established a CEC measurement technique using stable isotope-labeled cholesterol as an alternative, and we compared the new method with RI and fluorescence (boron dipyrromethene difluoride-cholesterol) methods in cells and in patient serum. We incubated J774 cells labeled with [d 7 ] cholesterol ([d 7 ]C) with patient serum depleted of apoB, and [d 7 ]C extracted from the culture medium was quantified by liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. [d 7 ]C efflux increased with greater apoB-depleted serum concentration and longer incubation time. The assay coefficient of variation (CV) of five consecutive measurements of three sets of samples ranged from 7.3% to 9.5%, and the interassay CV determined by measuring three samples four times ranged from 4.1% to 8.5%, both indicating good precision. We then measured CEC levels of 41 outpatients with serum HDL-cholesterol levels between 36 and 94 mg/dl (mean: 61.7 ± 18.0 mg/dl); in the presence of cAMP, we observed a significant, positive correlation between CEC levels determined with the stable isotope and RI methods that was stronger than the correlation between measurements obtained by the fluorescence and RI methods (r = 0.73, P < 0.0001 vs. r = 0.55, P < 0.001). Therefore, our stable isotope method can be considered useful as a non-RI method and thus deserves evaluation in future clinical studies.-Shimizu, T., O. Miyaz...
The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana has five double-stranded RNA-binding proteins (DRB1-DRB5), two of which, DRB1 and DRB4, are well characterized. In contrast, the functions of DRB2, DRB3 and DRB5 have yet to be elucidated. In this study, we tried to uncover their functions using drb mutants and DRB-over-expressed lines. In over-expressed lines of all five DRB genes, the over-expression of DRB2 or DRB3 (DRB2ox or DRB3ox) conferred a downward-curled leaf phenotype, but the expression profiles of ten small RNAs were similar to that of the wild-type (WT) plant. Phenotypes were examined in response to abiotic stresses. Both DRB2ox and DRB3ox plants exhibited salt-tolerance. When these plants were exposed to cold stress, drb2 and drb3 over-accumulated anthocyanin but DRB2ox and DRB3ox did not. Therefore, the over-expression of DRB2 or DRB3 had pleiotropic effects on host plants. Microarray and deep-sequencing analyses indicated that several genes encoding key enzymes for anthocyanin biosynthesis, including chalcone synthase (CHS), dihydroflavonol reductase (DFR) and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS), were down-regulated in DRB3ox plants. When DRB3ox was crossed with the pap1-D line, which is an activation-tagged transgenic line that over-expresses the key transcription factor PAP1 (Production of anthocyanin pigmentation1) for anthocyanin biosynthesis, over-expression of DRB3 suppressed the expression of PAP1, CHS, DFR and ANS genes. DRB3 negatively regulates anthocyanin biosynthesis by modulating the level of PAP1 transcript. Since two different small RNAs regulate PAP1 gene expression, a possible function of DRB3 for small RNA biogenesis is discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.