| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
To prevent and treat atherosclerosis, it is important to elucidate the mechanism underlying the production of HDL, also known as good cholesterol. In the present study, we observed ABCA1, a membrane protein which is essential for HDL production, by TIRF microscope. We found that C-terminal leucine zipper-like motif of ABCA1 is involved in its dimerization on the plasma membrane. HDL particles produced by a mutant ABCA1 lacking this motif showed different profiles compared with those by wild type ABCA1. We also clarified that ABCA1 is less likely to dimerize in the presence of PSC833, a drug which inhibits cholesterol efflux by ABCA1. In addition, ABCA7, which is highly homologous to ABCA1, was found to exist mainly as monomers. Recently, it is widely accepted that HDL quality is as important as its quantity to prevent atherosclerosis. Our results suggest that ABCA1 dimerization contributes to controlling HDL quality.
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