2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Role of Chitinase in the Development and Advance in Atherosclerosis

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21790735
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Circulatory organs internal medicine
Research Institution	Kyushu University
Principal Investigator	KITAMOTO Shiro Kyushu University, 大学院・医学研究院, 客員助教 (00380436)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2010
Keywords	動脈硬化 / キチナーゼ / マクロファージ / 炎症 / コレステロール代謝
Research Abstract	Experiments overexpressing or inhibiting chitinase in cultured macrophages revealed that chitinase increased CD36, ABCA1, and ABCG1 expression via PPARγ and LXRα pathway, promoted cholesterol uptake and Apo-AI dependent cholesterol efflux, and decreased inflammatory cytokines MCP-1 and TNFα expression by suppressing AP-1 transcriptional activity. Administration of chitinase inhibitor increased atherosclerotic lesion in ApoE knockout mice. These data suggest that chitinase has anti-atherosclerotic effects.