Impact of Oxysterols on Cell Death, Proliferation, and Differentiation Induction: Current Status
Fábio Alessandro de Freitas,
Débora Levy,
Amira Zarrouk,
Gérard Lizard,
Sérgio Paulo Bydlowski
Affiliations
Fábio Alessandro de Freitas
Lipids, Oxidation and Cell Biology Team, Laboratory of Immunology (LIM19), Heart Institute (InCor), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-900, Brazil
Débora Levy
Lipids, Oxidation and Cell Biology Team, Laboratory of Immunology (LIM19), Heart Institute (InCor), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-900, Brazil
Amira Zarrouk
Faculty of Medicine, University of Monastir, LR12ES05, Lab-NAFS ‘Nutrition—Functional Food & Vascular Health’, Monastir, Tunisia & Faculty of Medicine, University of Sousse, Sousse 5000, Tunisia
Gérard Lizard
Team ‘Biochemistry of the Peroxisome, Inflammation and Lipid Metabolism’ EA, University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale—Inserm, 7270 Dijon, France
Sérgio Paulo Bydlowski
Lipids, Oxidation and Cell Biology Team, Laboratory of Immunology (LIM19), Heart Institute (InCor), Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05403-900, Brazil
Oxysterols are oxidized derivatives of cholesterol produced by enzymatic activity or non-enzymatic pathways (auto-oxidation). The oxidation processes lead to the synthesis of about 60 different oxysterols. Several oxysterols have physiological, pathophysiological, and pharmacological activities. The effects of oxysterols on cell death processes, especially apoptosis, autophagy, necrosis, and oxiapoptophagy, as well as their action on cell proliferation, are reviewed here. These effects, also observed in several cancer cell lines, could potentially be useful in cancer treatment. The effects of oxysterols on cell differentiation are also described. Among them, the properties of stimulating the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells while inhibiting adipogenic differentiation may be useful in regenerative medicine.
