SR-BI Provides Protection Outside The Liver

Main Category: Cholesterol
Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Article Date: 10 Sep 2006 - 18:00 PST

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Cholesterol is naturally removed from the body through the liver. This occurs when a protein known as scavenger receptor BI (SR-BI) on the surface of cells in the liver recognizes cholesterol in combination with particles known as high-density lipoprotein. Mice lacking SR-BI have very high levels of cholesterol and, like humans with high levels of cholesterol, have a high risk of developing heart disease. However, because cells other than liver cells express SR-BI, scientists did not know whether loss of SR-BI in liver cells or other cells caused this increased risk of heart disease.

In a study appearing online on September 7, in advance of publication in the October print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Thierry Huber and colleagues from Hopital de la Pitie, France, show that although mice lacking SR-BI only in the liver have a much higher risk of developing heart disease than normal mice, they develop less severe disease than mice lacking SR-BI in all cells. Surprisingly, mice lacking SR-BI only in the liver and mice lacking SR-BI in all cells had similarly high levels of cholesterol. This study therefore indicates that SR-BI has a role in protecting against heart disease that is not related to its cholesterol clearing function in the liver, but more studies are needed to understand what this role is.

TITLE: Knockdown expression and hepatic deficiency reveal an atheroprotective role for SR-BI in the liver and peripheral tissues

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AUTHOR CONTACT:

Thierry Huby
Hopital de la Pitie, Paris, France.
E-mail: huby@chups.jussieu.fr.

View the PDF of this article at: http://https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=26893

JCI table of contents: September 7, 2006

Contact: Karen Honey
Journal of Clinical Investigation

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