Wnt5a Promotes Lysosomal Cholesterol Egress and Protects Against Atherosclerosis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Impairment of cellular cholesterol trafficking is at the heart of atherosclerotic lesions formation. This involves egress of cholesterol from the lysosomes and 2 lysosomal proteins, the NPC1 (Niemann-Pick C1) and NPC2 that promotes cholesterol trafficking. However, movement of cholesterol out the lysosome and how disrupted cholesterol trafficking leads to atherosclerosis is unclear. As the Wnt ligand, Wnt5a inhibits the intracellular accumulation of cholesterol in multiple cell types, we tested whether Wnt5a interacts with the lysosomal cholesterol export machinery and studied its role in atherosclerotic lesions formation.

Methods

We generated mice deleted for the Wnt5a gene in vascular smooth muscle cells. To establish whether Wnt5a also protects against c

SUBMITTER: Awan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8776607 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature