Project description:Lipid droplets (LDs) of foam cells within atheroma contain abundant cholesterol, but also serve as reservoirs of central bioactive lipids. The mechanisms of storage and mobilization of many of these lipids remain obscure. LD-associated hydrolase (LDAH) localizes to LDs, has a lipase structure, and is abundant in atheroma. However, its lipid substrates and role in atherogenesis are unknown. Using knockout and transgenic mice we found that LDAH protects against atherosclerosis. Myeloid LDAH expression is sufficient to inhibit lesion progression and promote stable architectures, less necrotic, and richer in fibrillar collagen. Lipidomics coupled with RNA sequencing revealed that LDAH facilitates mobilization of esters of oxysterols that are liver X receptor agonists, leading to induction of cholesterol efflux transporters, reduced foam cell inflammation, and pro-fibrotic gene signatures. These studies identify LDAH as a novel player in neutral hydrolysis of esterified regulatory sterols that promotes atheroprotective and pro-stabilizing mechanisms beyond mass cholesterol removal.
Project description:UnlabelledLiver X receptors (LXRs) are determinants of hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation and liver fibrosis. Freshly isolated HSCs from Lxrαβ(-/-) mice have increased lipid droplet (LD) size, but the functional consequences of this are unknown. Our aim was to determine whether LXRs link cholesterol to retinoid storage in HSCs and how this impacts activation. Primary HSCs from Lxrαβ(-/-) and wild-type mice were profiled by gene array during in vitro activation. Lipid content was quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy. Primary HSCs were treated with nuclear receptor ligands, transfected with small interfering RNA and plasmid constructs, and analyzed by immunocytochemistry. Lxrαβ(-/-) HSCs have increased cholesterol and retinyl esters. The retinoid increase drives intrinsic retinoic acid receptor signaling, and activation occurs more rapidly in Lxrαβ(-/-) HSCs. We identify Rab18 as a novel retinoic acid-responsive, LD-associated protein that helps mediate stellate cell activation. Rab18 mRNA, protein, and membrane insertion increase during activation. Both Rab18 guanosine triphosphatase activity and isoprenylation are required for stellate cell LD loss and induction of activation markers. These phenomena are accelerated in Lxrαβ(-/-) HSCs, where there is greater retinoic acid flux. Conversely, Rab18 knockdown retards LD loss in culture and blocks activation, just like the functional mutants. Rab18 is also induced with acute liver injury in vivo.ConclusionRetinoid and cholesterol metabolism are linked in stellate cells by the LD-associated protein Rab18. Retinoid overload helps explain the profibrotic phenotype of Lxrαβ(-/-) mice, and we establish a pivotal role for Rab18 GTPase activity and membrane insertion in wild-type stellate cell activation. Interference with Rab18 may have significant therapeutic benefit in ameliorating liver fibrosis.
Project description:ObjectiveLiver is the major organ responsible for the final elimination of cholesterol from the body either as biliary cholesterol or as bile acids. Intracellular hydrolysis of lipoprotein-derived cholesteryl esters (CEs) is essential to generate the free cholesterol required for this process. Earlier, we demonstrated that overexpression of human CE hydrolase (Gene symbol CES1) increased bile acid synthesis in human hepatocytes and enhanced reverse cholesterol transport in mice. The objective of the present study was to demonstrate that liver-specific deletion of its murine ortholog, Ces3, would decrease cholesterol elimination from the body and increase atherosclerosis.Approach and resultsLiver-specific Ces3 knockout mice (Ces3-LKO) were generated, and Ces3 deficiency did not affect the expression of genes involved in cholesterol homeostasis and free cholesterol or bile acid transport. The effects of Ces3 deficiency on the development of Western diet-induced atherosclerosis were examined in low density lipoprotein receptor knock out(-/-) mice. Despite similar plasma lipoprotein profiles, there was increased lesion development in low density lipoprotein receptor knock out(-/-)Ces3-LKO mice along with a significant decrease in the bile acid content of bile. Ces3 deficiency significantly reduced the flux of cholesterol from [(3)H]-CE-labeled high-density lipoproteins to feces (as free cholesterol and bile acids) and decreased total fecal sterol elimination.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that hepatic Ces3 modulates the hydrolysis of lipoprotein-delivered CEs and thereby regulates free cholesterol and bile acid secretion into the feces. Therefore, its deficiency results in reduced cholesterol elimination from the body, leading to significant increase in atherosclerosis. Collectively, these data establish the antiatherogenic role of hepatic CE hydrolysis.
Project description:Lipid droplet (LD)-associated hydrolase (LDAH) is a newly identified LD protein abundantly expressed in tissues that predominantly store triacylglycerol (TAG). However, how LDAH regulates TAG metabolism remains unknown. We found that upon oleic acid loading LDAH translocalizes from the ER to newly formed LDs, and induces LD coalescence in a tubulin-dependent manner. LDAH overexpression and downregulation in HEK293 cells increase and decrease, respectively, TAG levels. Pulse and chase experiments show that LDAH enhances TAG biogenesis, but also decreases TAG turnover and fatty acid release from cells. Mutations in predicted catalytic and acyltransferase motifs do not influence TAG levels, suggesting that the effect is independent of LDAH's enzymatic activity. However, a LDAH alternative-splicing variant missing 90 amino acids at C-terminus does not promote LD fusion or TAG accumulation, while it still localizes to LDs. Interestingly, LDAH enhances polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), a rate limiting enzyme of TAG hydrolysis. Co-expression of ATGL reverses the changes in LD phenotype induced by LDAH, and both proteins counterbalance their effects on TAG stores. Together, these studies support that under conditions of TAG storage in LDs LDAH plays a primarily lipogenic role, inducing LD growth and enhancing degradation of ATGL.
Project description:The PAT family of lipid droplet proteins includes 5 members in mammals: perilipin, adipose differentiation-related protein (ADRP), tail-interacting protein of 47 kDa (TIP47), S3-12, and OXPAT. Members of this family are also present in evolutionarily distant organisms, including insects, slime molds and fungi. All PAT proteins share sequence similarity and the ability to bind intracellular lipid droplets, either constitutively or in response to metabolic stimuli, such as increased lipid flux into or out of lipid droplets. Positioned at the lipid droplet surface, PAT proteins manage access of other proteins (lipases) to the lipid esters within the lipid droplet core and can interact with cellular machinery important for lipid droplet biogenesis. Genetic variations in the gene for the best-characterized of the mammalian PAT proteins, perilipin, have been associated with metabolic phenotypes, including type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity. In this review, we discuss how the PAT proteins regulate cellular lipid metabolism both in mammals and in model organisms.
Project description:BACKGROUND & AIMS:The small intestine regulates plasma triglyceride (TG) concentration. Within enterocytes, dietary TGs are packaged into chylomicrons (CMs) for secretion or stored temporarily in cytoplasmic lipid droplets (CLDs) until further mobilization. We and others have shown that oral and intravenous glucose enhances CM particle secretion in human beings, however, the mechanisms through which this occurs are incompletely understood. METHODS:Two separate cohorts of participants ingested a high-fat liquid meal and, 5 hours later, were assigned randomly to ingest either a glucose solution or an equivalent volume of water. In 1 group (N = 6), plasma and lipoprotein TG responses were assessed in a randomized cross-over study. In a separate group (N = 24), duodenal biopsy specimens were obtained 1 hour after ingestion of glucose or water. Ultrastructural and proteomic analyses were performed on duodenal biopsy specimens. RESULTS:Compared with water, glucose ingestion increased circulating TGs within 30 minutes, mainly in the CM fraction. It decreased the total number of CLDs and the proportion of large-sized CLDs within enterocytes. We identified 2919 proteins in human duodenal tissue, 270 of which are related to lipid metabolism and 134 of which were differentially present in response to glucose compared with water ingestion. CONCLUSIONS:Oral glucose mobilizes TGs stored within enterocyte CLDs to provide substrate for CM synthesis and secretion. Future studies elucidating the underlying signaling pathways may provide mechanistic insights that lead to the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of hypertriglyceridemia.
Project description:Liver steatosis is an increasing health issue with few therapeutic options, partly because of a paucity of experimental models. In humanized liver rodent models, abnormal lipid accumulation in transplanted human hepatocytes occurs spontaneously. Here, we demonstrate that this abnormality is associated with compromised interleukin-6 (IL-6)-glycoprotein 130 (GP130) signaling in human hepatocytes because of incompatibility between host rodent IL-6 and human IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) on donor hepatocytes. Restoration of hepatic IL-6-GP130 signaling, through ectopic expression of rodent IL-6R, constitutive activation of GP130 in human hepatocytes, or humanization of an Il6 allele in recipient mice, substantially reduced hepatosteatosis. Notably, providing human Kupffer cells via hematopoietic stem cell engraftment in humanized liver mice also corrected the abnormality. Our observations suggest an important role of IL-6-GP130 pathway in regulating lipid accumulation in hepatocytes and not only provide a method to improve humanized liver models but also suggest therapeutic potential for manipulating GP130 signaling in human liver steatosis.
Project description:ObjectiveLipid-laden macrophages or foam cells are characterized by massive cytosolic lipid droplet (LD) deposition containing mostly cholesterol ester (CE) derived from the lipoproteins cleared from the arterial wall. Cholesterol efflux from foam cells is considered to be atheroprotective. Because cholesterol is effluxed as free cholesterol, CE accumulation in LDs may limit free cholesterol efflux. Our objective was to identify proteins that regulate cholesterol trafficking through LDs.Approach and resultsIn a proteomic analysis of the LD fraction of RAW 264.7 macrophages, we identified an evolutionarily conserved protein with a canonical GXSXG lipase catalytic motif and a predicted α/β-hydrolase fold, the RIKEN cDNA 1110057K04 gene, which we named LD-associated hydrolase (LDAH). LDAH association with LDs was confirmed by immunoblotting and immunocytochemistry. LDAH was labeled with a probe specific for active serine hydrolases. LDAH showed relatively weak in vitro CE hydrolase activity. However, cholesterol measurements in intact cells supported a significant role of LDAH in CE homeostasis because LDAH upregulation and downregulation decreased and increased, respectively, intracellular cholesterol and CE in human embryonic kidney-293 cells and RAW 264.7 macrophages. Mutation of the putative nucleophilic serine impaired active hydrolase probe binding, in vitro CE hydrolase activity, and cholesterol-lowering effect in cells, whereas this mutant still localized to the LD. LDAH upregulation increased CE hydrolysis and cholesterol efflux from macrophages, and, interestingly, LDAH is highly expressed in macrophage-rich areas within mouse and human atherosclerotic lesions.ConclusionsThe data identify a candidate target to promote reverse cholesterol transport from atherosclerotic lesions.
Project description:Lipid droplets (LDs) form from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and grow in size by obtaining triacylglycerols (TG). Triacylglycerol hydrolase (TGH), a lipase residing in the ER, is involved in the mobilization of TG stored in LDs for the secretion of very-low-density lipoproteins. In this study, we investigated TGH-mediated changes in cytosolic LD dynamics. We have found that TGH deficiency resulted in decreased size and increased number of LDs in hepatocytes. Using fluorescent fatty acid analogues to trace LD formation, we observed that TGH deficiency did not affect the formation of nascent LDs on the ER. However, the rate of lipid transfer into preformed LDs was significantly slower in the absence of TGH. Absence of TGH expression resulted in increased levels of membrane diacylglycerol and augmented phospholipid synthesis, which may be responsible for the delayed lipid transfer. Therefore, altered maturation (growth) rather than nascent formation (de novo synthesis) may be responsible for the observed morphological changes of LDs in TGH-deficient hepatocytes.