Joseph L Goldstein

Sterol regulatory element binding protein-1 (SREBP1) and SREBP2 are structurally related proteins that control cholesterol homeostasis by stimulating transcription of sterol-regulated genes, including those encoding the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA synthase. SREBP1 and SREBP2 are 47% identical, and they share a novel structure comprising a transcriptionally active NH2-terminal basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper (bHLH-Zip) domain followed by ...

The low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein/alpha 2-macroglobulin receptor (LRP) and gp330, two members of the low density lipoprotein receptor gene family, share a multitude of cysteine-rich repeats. LRP has been shown to act as an endocytosis-mediating receptor for several ligands, including protease-antiprotease complexes and plasma lipoproteins. The former include alpha 2-macroglobulin-protease complexes and plasminogen activator inhibitor-activator complexes. The latter ...

Animals fed cholesterol accumulate several types of cholesterol-rich lipoproteins in their plasma and ultimately develop cholesteryl ester deposition in tissue macrophages. Previous studies in the cholesterol-fed dog have shown that one class of cholesterol-rich lipoproteins. beta-migrating very low density lipoproteins (beta-VLDL, density < 1.006 g/ml), possesses a unique ability to produce cellular cholesteryl ester accumulation when incubated with mouse peritoneal macrophages in ...

Rabbit livers express two genetically distinct receptors for plasma lipoproteins: (i) the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor and (ii) the chylomicron remnant receptor. In homozygous Watanabe-heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbits, an animal model for human familial hypercholesterolemia, LDL receptors are genetically deficient, but chylomicron remnant receptors are normal. Hence, WHHL rabbits clear LDL from the circulation at an abnormally slow rate, but they clear chylomicron ...

Lipoproteins in blood plasma have been quantified and characterized in homozygous Watanabe-heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbits, an animal model of human familial hypercholesterolemia. Like homozygous human hypercholesterolemics, WHHL rabbits have a severe deficiency of low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors, a prolonged residence time for LDL, and an increased absolute rate of LDL catabolism. Although lipoproteins containing apolipoprotein B in WHHL rabbits are enriched in ...

The activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, the rate-controlling enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis, is suppressed in normal fibroblasts cultured in medium containing whole serum. The factor responsible for this suppression was localized to the low density and very low density lipoproteins, but was not found in high density lipoproteins. Whole serum from a patient with abetalipoproteinemia, which is deficient in apolipoprotein B (the protein common to low density and ...

The current paper demonstrates that cholesterol and its hydroxylated derivative, 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HC), inhibit cholesterol synthesis by two different mechanisms, both involving the proteins that control sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs), membrane-bound transcription factors that activate genes encoding enzymes of lipid synthesis. Using methyl-beta-cyclodextrin as a delivery vehicle, we show that cholesterol enters cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells and ...

These studies were undertaken to measure rates of synthesis of digitonin-precipitable sterols in vivo and in vitro in control rabbits (New Zealand (NZ) control) and in homozygous Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbits (WHHL) that lack receptors for low density lipoproteins (LDL). The plasma cholesterol concentration in NZ control fetuses equaled 79 mg/dl, rose to 315 mg/dl 12 days after birth, and fell to 80 mg/dl in young adult animals. At these same ages, cholesterol concentrations ...

The proteolytic degradation of 125I-labeled low density lipoprotein by monolayers of cultured human fibroblasts was prevented by exposure of the cells to chloroquine, an agent that has been reported previously to inhibit lysosomal degradative processes. Chloroquine did not inhibit the binding of low density lipoprotein to its cell surface receptor. However, the two regulatory actions that normally follow low density lipoprotein binding to its receptor, namely suppression of ...

In cultured human fibroblasts, each LDL receptor mediates the internalization of approximately 100 particles of LDL every 20 hr. We provide evidence that this reutilization of LDL receptors involves the recycling of receptors into and out of the cell and that the carboxylic ionophore monensin blocks the return of the receptors to the surface. In the presence of monensin and LDL, 75% of the receptors disappeared from the cell surface within 15 min and more than 90% disappeared within 60 ...

125I-Labeled low density lipoproteins were found to associate with monolayers of cultured normal fibroblasts by two processes—one of high affinity and one of low affinity. The high affinity association appeared to represent binding of the low density lipoprotein to specific receptor sites on the cell surface. This binding process exhibited saturation kinetics at low concentrations of the lipoprotein and competition by related molecules such as very low density lipoproteins. In addition, ...

We have produced transgenic mice whose livers express a dominant positive NH2-terminal fragment of sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c). Unlike full-length SREBP-1c, the NH2-terminal fragment enters the nucleus without a requirement for proteolytic release from cell membranes, and hence it is immune to downregulation by sterols. We compared SREBP-1c transgenic mice with a line of transgenic mice that produces an equal amount of the NH2-terminal fragment of SREBP-1a. ...

Sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBP-1 and SREBP-2) are attached to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and nuclear envelope by a hairpin domain consisting of two transmembrane regions connected by a short lumenal loop of approximately 30 hydrophilic amino acids. In sterol-depleted cells, a protease cleaves the protein in the region of the first transmembrane domain, releasing an NH2-terminal fragment of approximately 500 amino acids that activates transcription of genes encoding ...

Cellular cholesterol homeostasis is controlled by sterol-regulated proteolysis of membrane-bound transcription factors called sterol-regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs). CPP32, a cysteine protease, was shown previously to cleave SREBP-1 and SREBP-2 in vitro at an aspartic acid between the basic helix-loop-helix leucine zipper domain and the first trans-membrane domain, liberating a transcriptionally active fragment. Here, we show that CPP32 exists in an inactive 32 kDa form in ...

Hepatic catabolism of lipoproteins containing apolipoproteins B or E is enhanced in rats treated with pharmacologic doses of 17 alpha-ethinyl estradiol. Liver membranes prepared from these rats exhibit an increased number of receptor sites that bind 125I-labeled human low density lipoproteins (LDL) in vitro. In the present studies, this estradiol-stimulated hepatic receptor was shown to recognize the following rat lipoproteins: LDL, very low density lipoproteins obtained from liver ...