Impact of Cholesterol Metabolism in Immune Cell Function and Atherosclerosis.

Autores de INCLIVA

• 

  María Aguilar Ballester

  Autor

• Andrea Herrero Cervera

  Autor

• María Ángela Vinué Visús

  Autor

• 

  Sergio Martinez Hervas

  Autor

• 

  Herminia González Navarro

  Autor

Grupos y Plataformas de I+D+i

• Grupo de investigación en Enfermedades Metabólicas

  

  Established Researcher

  Herminia González Navarro

• Grupo de Investigación sobre Riesgo Cardiometabólico y Diabetes

  

  Leading Researcher

  Sergio Martinez Hervas

Abstract

Cholesterol, the most important sterol in mammals, helps maintain plasma membrane fluidity and is a precursor of bile acids, oxysterols, and steroid hormones. Cholesterol in the body is obtained from the diet or can be de novo synthetized. Cholesterol homeostasis is mainly regulated by the liver, where cholesterol is packed in lipoproteins for transport through a tightly regulated process. Changes in circulating lipoprotein cholesterol levels lead to atherosclerosis development, which is initiated by an accumulation of modified lipoproteins in the subendothelial space; this induces significant changes in immune cell differentiation and function. Beyond lesions, cholesterol levels also play important roles in immune cells such as monocyte priming, neutrophil activation, hematopoietic stem cell mobilization, and enhanced T cell production. In addition, changes in cholesterol intracellular metabolic enzymes or transporters in immune cells affect their signaling and phenotype differentiation, which can impact on atherosclerosis development. In this review, we describe the main regulatory pathways and mechanisms of cholesterol metabolism and how these affect immune cell generation, proliferation, activation, and signaling in the context of atherosclerosis.

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Keywords

• cholesterol; inflammation; atherosclerosis; immune cells; hematopoiesis; metabolism