Doing so could be beneficial because higher amounts are associated with a reduced risk of atherosclerosis. Professor Krieger and colleagues have reported over the past two years indirect evidence for a role of this protein, a cell surface receptor, in HDL metabolism. The new work, however, is the first direct evidence. The work, which was conducted with mice, will be reported in the November 11 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Atherosclerosis is characterized by the build-up of cholesterol in the walls of arteries.
Clogged arteries, in turn, are a signature of coronary heart disease. The risk of developing atherosclerosis depends in large measure on the relative amounts of two particles that carry cholesterol through the bloodstream. Key collaborators in this work included Susan Acton and Attilio Rigotti, postdoctoral students with Professor Krieger at MIT, and Kathy Landschultz and Helen Hobbs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Without the receptor, the cholesterol couldn't be transferred normally into the liver and other cells that usually consume the material. He said that his team and other researchers expect that the receptor will have similar functions in humans.