On Reverse Cholesterol Transport Solutions to Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis, the condition that kills upwards of a quarter of humanity at the present time, is a failure of cholesterol transport. Cholesterol is made in the liver and transported out into the body in the bloodstream, attached to LDL particles. All cells need cholesterol. Some of this LDL-cholesterol ends up stuck in blood vessel walls in too large an amount, or oxidized into toxic forms, aggravating the blood vessel tissues. Macrophage cells ingest this excess cholesterol and then attach it to HDL particles that return the cholesterol to the liver for excretion. The latter part of this complicated system is called reverse cholesterol transport, and works well in youth. The point of failure that emerges with advancing age is that macrophages become less able to perform reverse cholesterol transport, allowing blood vessel walls to reach a tipping point of excess or altered cholesterol deposition. These regions become too much for macrophages to handle, but they keep on trying - arriving, becoming inflammatory, and dying while drawing in more cells to try to help. It is a feedback loop in which diseased region of blood vessel wall becomes a toxic cell graveyard, growing to form fatty lesions that narrow and weaken blood vessels. Eventually something ruptures, leading to a stroke or heart attack. Finding ways to enhance the operation of reverse cholesterol transport has been the subject of research programs for some decades. Increased expression of proteins in ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs