Nature Communications (Nov 2016)

Genome-wide RNAi screen reveals ALK1 mediates LDL uptake and transcytosis in endothelial cells

  • Jan R. Kraehling,
  • John H. Chidlow,
  • Chitra Rajagopal,
  • Michael G. Sugiyama,
  • Joseph W. Fowler,
  • Monica Y. Lee,
  • Xinbo Zhang,
  • Cristina M. Ramírez,
  • Eon Joo Park,
  • Bo Tao,
  • Keyang Chen,
  • Leena Kuruvilla,
  • Bruno Larriveé,
  • Ewa Folta-Stogniew,
  • Roxana Ola,
  • Noemi Rotllan,
  • Wenping Zhou,
  • Michael W. Nagle,
  • Joachim Herz,
  • Kevin Jon Williams,
  • Anne Eichmann,
  • Warren L. Lee,
  • Carlos Fernández-Hernando,
  • William C. Sessa

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13516
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 15

Abstract

Read online

Atherosclerosis is caused by low-density lipoprotein (LDL) buildup in the vessel wall, a process thought to be mediated by LDL receptor alone. Here, the authors show that the endothelium can uptake LDL via ALK1, a TGFβ signalling receptor, suggesting new therapies for blocking LDL accumulation in the vessel wall.