Transcriptional regulation of macrophage cholesterol efflux and atherogenesis by a long noncoding RNA.

ABSTRACT: Nuclear receptors regulate gene expression in response to environmental cues, but the molecular events governing the cell type specificity of nuclear receptors remain poorly understood. Here we outline a role for a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) in modulating the cell type-specific actions of liver X receptors (LXRs), sterol-activated nuclear receptors that regulate the expression of genes involved in cholesterol homeostasis and that have been causally linked to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. We identify the lncRNA MeXis as an amplifier of LXR-dependent transcription of the gene Abca1, which is critical for regulation of cholesterol efflux. Mice lacking the MeXis gene show reduced Abca1 expression in a tissue-selective manner. Furthermore, loss of MeXis in mouse bone marrow cells alters

SUBMITTER: Sallam T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5839972 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature