OBJECTIVE The sterol-responsive nuclear receptors, liver X receptors α (LXRα, NR1H3) and β (LXRβ, NR1H2), are key determinants of cellular cholesterol homeostasis. LXRs are activated under conditions of high cellular sterol load and induce expression of the cholesterol efflux transporters ABCA1 and ABCG1 to promote efflux of excess cellular cholesterol. However, the full set of genes that contr...

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynaecological malignancy. Obesity is a major risk factor for EC and is associated with elevated cholesterol. 27-hydroxycholesterol (27HC) is a cholesterol metabolite that functions as an endogenous agonist for Liver X receptor (LXR) and a selective oestrogen receptor modulator (SERM). Exposure to oestrogenic ligands increases risk of developing EC; ho...

Patients with the autoimmune rheumatic disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have multiple defects in lymphocyte signaling and function that contribute to disease pathogenesis. Such defects could be attributed to alterations in metabolic processes, including abnormal control of lipid biosynthesis pathways. Here, we reveal that CD4+ T cells from SLE patients displayed an altered profile of ...

Transcription factors LXRs, PPARs, and SREBPs have been implicated in a multitude of physiological and pathological processes including atherogenesis. However, little is known about the regulation of these transcription factors at different stages of atherosclerosis progression. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to compare the contents of mRNAs in pairs intact-...

Liver X receptors (LXRα and LXRβ) are important regulators of cholesterol and lipid metabolism, and their activation has been shown to inhibit cardiovascular disease and reduce atherosclerosis in animal models. Small molecule agonists of LXR activity are therefore of great therapeutic interest. However, the finding that such agonists also promote hepatic lipogenesis has led to the idea that hep...

Bile acid (BA) receptors represent well-defined targets for the development of novel therapeutic approaches to metabolic and inflammatory diseases. In the present study, we report the generation of novel C-3 modified 6-ethylcholane derivatives. The pharmacological characterization and molecular docking studies for the structure-activity rationalization, allowed the identification of 3β-azido-6α...

Liver X receptor (LXR), a member of nuclear receptor superfamily, is involved in the regulation of glucose, lipid and cholesterol metabolism. Recently, it has been reported that LXR suppress different kinds of cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the corresponding mechanism is still not well elucidated. In the present study, we found that activation of LXR downregulated cy...

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a complication secondary to diabetes and is the number one cause of blindness among working age individuals worldwide. Despite recent therapeutic breakthroughs using pharmacotherapy, a cure for DR has yet to be realized. Several clinical trials have highlighted the vital role dyslipidemia plays in the progression of DR. Additionally, it has recently been shown that ...

OBJECTIVE The liver X receptor α (LXRα) is a ligand-dependent nuclear receptor and the major regulator of reverse cholesterol transport in macrophages. This makes it an interesting target for mechanistic study and treatment of atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS We optimized a promising stilbenoid structure (STX4) in order to reach nanomolar effective concentrations in LXRα reporter-gene ass...

Mer signaling increases the transcriptional activity of liver X receptor (LXR) to promote the resolution of acute sterile inflammation. Here, we aimed to understand the pathway downstream of Mer signaling after growth arrest-specific protein 6 (Gas6) treatment that leads to LXR expression and transcriptional activity in mouse bone-marrow derived macrophages (BMDM). Gas6-induced increases in LXR...