The plasma lipoproteins are continuously remodeled during their transit through the plasma compartment, owing to the action of lipid metabolizing enzymes and lipid transfer processes. These activities have a major effect on the composition, size, and concentration of the lipoproteins. Lipid transfer processes involving neutral lipids and phospholipids are mediated by specialized plasma proteins...

Human cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) mediates the net transfer of cholesteryl ester mass from atheroprotective high-density lipoproteins to atherogenic low-density lipoproteins by an unknown mechanism. Delineating this mechanism would be an important step toward the rational design of new CETP inhibitors for treating cardiovascular diseases. Using EM, single-particle image processing...

The purpose of the present study was to identify genetic variants which confer susceptibility to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in high- or low-risk subjects defined by conventional risk factors separately. The study population comprised 2828 Japanese individuals, including 434 subjects with CKD [estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 ml/min/1.73 m(2)] and 2394 controls (eGFR > or =60 ml...

OBJECTIVE In observational epidemiologic studies, higher plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) has been associated with increased risk of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). DNA sequence variants that decrease cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) gene activity increase plasma HDL-C; as such, medicines that inhibit CETP and raise HDL-C are in clinical development. Here, we test th...

BACKGROUND Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) transfers cholesteryl esters from high-density lipoproteins to apolipoprotein (apo) B-containing lipoproteins and in humans plays an important role in lipoprotein metabolism. However, the role that CETP plays in mediation of reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) remains unclear. We used a validated in vivo assay of macrophage RCT to test the ef...

Site-specific changes in the amino acid composition of human cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) modify its preference for triglyceride (TG) versus cholesteryl ester (CE) as substrate. CETP homologs are found in many species but little is known about their activity. Here, we examined the lipid transfer properties of CETP species with 80-96% amino acid identity to human CETP. TG/CE transfe...

Mutations in the CETP gene resulting in defective CETP activity have been shown to cause remarkable elevations of plasma HDL-C levels, with the accumulation in plasma of large, buoyant HDL particles enriched in apolipoprotein E. Genetic CETP deficiency thus represents a unique tool to evaluate how structural alterations of HDL impact on HDL atheroprotective functions. Aim of the present study w...

Human plasma, unlike mouse plasma, contains the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) that may influence the reverse cholesterol transport. Liver X receptor (LXR), an oxysterol-activated nuclear receptor induces CETP transcription via a direct repeat 4 element in the CETP gene promoter. The aim of the study was to assess in vivo the impact of LXR activation on CETP expression and its conseq...

The cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) promotes exchange and transfer of neutral lipids such as cholesteryl ester (CE) and triacylglycerol (TG) between plasma lipoproteins. Evidence is accumulating for involvement of CETP in atherosclerosis1'2). Therefore, CETP is expected as a novel target of inhibition for anti-atherosclerotic agents. In the course of our screening for CETP inhibitors ...

Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) is a 79-kDa glycoprotein, present in humans, rabbits, primates, and hamsters but absent in rodents, dogs, horses, cows, and pigs, that facilitates transfer of cholesteryl ester from high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles to low-density lipoprotein (LDL)–very-low-density lipoprotein (vLDL) particles in exchange for triglycerides, thereby participating ...