Znf202 affects high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and promotes hepatosteatosis in hyperlipidemic mice.

Autor: Carlos L J Vrins, Ruud Out, Peter van Santbrink, André van der Zee, Tokameh Mahmoudi, Martine Groenendijk, Louis M Havekes, Theo J C van Berkel, Ko Willems van Dijk, Erik A L Biessen
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2013
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 2, p e57492 (2013)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057492
Popis: BACKGROUND: The zinc finger protein Znf202 is a transcriptional suppressor of lipid related genes and has been linked to hypoalphalipoproteinemia. A functional role of Znf202 in lipid metabolism in vivo still remains to be established. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We generated mouse Znf202 expression vectors, the functionality of which was established in several in vitro systems. Next, effects of adenoviral znf202 overexpression in vivo were determined in normo- as well as hyperlipidemic mouse models. Znf202 overexpression in mouse hepatoma cells mhAT3F2 resulted in downregulation of members of the Apoe/c1/c2 and Apoa1/c3/a4 gene cluster. The repressive activity of Znf202 was firmly confirmed in an apoE reporter assay and Znf202 responsive elements within the ApoE promoter were identified. Adenoviral Znf202 transfer to Ldlr-/- mice resulted in downregulation of apoe, apoc1, apoa1, and apoc3 within 24 h after gene transfer. Interestingly, key genes in bile flux (abcg5/8 and bsep) and in bile acid synthesis (cyp7a1) were also downregulated. At 5 days post-infection, the expression of the aforementioned genes was normalized, but mice had developed severe hepatosteatosis accompanied by hypercholesterolemia and hypoalphalipoproteinemia. A much milder phenotype was observed in wildtype mice after 5 days of hepatic Znf202 overexpression. Interestingly and similar to Ldl-/- mice, HDL-cholesterol levels in wildtype mice were lowered after hepatic Znf202 overexpression. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Znf202 overexpression in vivo reveals an important role of this transcriptional regulator in liver lipid homeostasis, while firmly establishing the proposed key role in the control of HDL levels.
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