Diabetes, Vol 37, Issue 5 550-557, Copyright © 1988 by American Diabetes Association
Glycosylation of low-density lipoprotein enhances cholesteryl ester synthesis in human monocyte-derived macrophages
MF Lopes-Virella, RL Klein, TJ Lyons, HC Stevenson and JL Witztum
Veterans Administration Medical Center, Charleston, South Carolina 29403.
Glucose can react with the lysine residues of low-density lipoproteins
(LDLs) and convert the lipoprotein to a form with a receptor-mediated
uptake by cultured cells that is impaired. However, in contrast to other
modified lipoproteins taken up by both murine and human macrophages via the
scavenger-receptor pathway that may induce the formation of foam cells,
glycosylated LDL is not recognized by murine macrophages, and thus far, it
has not been shown to lead to marked intracellular accumulation of
cholesterol in human macrophages. This study illustrates that glycosylated
LDL incubated with human monocyte-derived macrophages, at a concentration
of 100 micrograms LDL/ml medium, stimulates significantly more cholesteryl
ester (CE) synthesis than does control LDL (10.65 +/- 1.5 vs. 4.8 +/- 0.13
nmol.mg-1 cell protein.20 h-1; P less than .05). At LDL concentrations
similar to those of plasma, the rate of CE synthesis in macrophages
incubated with glycosylated LDL is more markedly enhanced than that
observed in cells incubated with control LDL (3-fold increase). The marked
stimulation of CE synthesis in human macrophages exposed to glycosylated
LDL is paralleled by a significant increase in CE accumulation in these
cells (P less than .001). The increase in CE synthesis and accumulation
seem to be mediated by an increase in the degradation of glycosylated LDL
by human macrophages. Glycosylated LDL enters the macrophages and is
degraded by the classic LDL-receptor pathway in slightly smaller amounts
than control LDL, but its degradation by pathways other than the classic
LDL receptor or scavenger receptor is markedly enhanced.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED
AT 250 WORDS)