据5月21日的《科学》杂志报道说，信号转导通路，减少动脉粥样硬化（指的是在动脉内脂肪性斑块的积聚）疾病中的胆固醇还可压制与该疾病有关的白血球数量的增加。
这些发现对动脉粥样硬化和白血球数增加的机制提供了线索，并可帮助改善对斑块的危险积聚的治疗，因为这种积聚会引起冠心病，而冠心病是美国首屈一指的死亡原因。
白细胞增多症（即身体中白细胞数高于正常）是发生动脉粥样硬化的一个重要的驱动因素，但人们对其的发生机制仍然不甚清楚。 Laurent Yvan-Charvet及其同僚如今显示，一组被称作ATP结合匣式转运子的有名的蛋白质是与粥样硬化有关的白细胞增多症的关键性的抑制物。
ATP结合匣式转运子可保护身体不发生动脉粥样硬化，因为它们可促进那些充满了脂肪物质的细胞中的胆固醇从细胞内外流。 研究人员观察到，那些缺乏2种转运子的小鼠的胆固醇水平会很高，并且其斑块积聚的速度也会加快。
然而，这些有缺陷小鼠的疾病在存在有大量的HDL的时候（或称“好”胆固醇）会被逆转。 这些结果显示，那些已知的抑制动脉内斑块积聚的信号转导通路也可减轻白细胞增多症。（生物谷Bioon.com）
Circulation：运动有助于保持白细胞端粒长度
NEJM：白细胞介素-2对治疗HIV-AIDS无效
Nature Medicine：白细胞利用“DNA弹弓”抵御细菌感染
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1189731
ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters and HDL Suppress Hematopoietic Stem Cell Proliferation
Laurent Yvan-Charvet,1,*, Tamara Pagler,1,* Emmanuel L. Gautier,2 Serine Avagyan,2 Read L. Siry,1 Seongah Han,1 Carrie L. Welch,1 Nan Wang,1 Gwendalyn J. Randolph,2 Hans W. Snoeck,2 Alan R. Tall1
Elevated leukocyte cell numbers (leukocytosis), and monocytes in particular, promote atherosclerosis; however, how they become increased is poorly understood. Mice deficient in the ATP-binding cassette transporters ABCA1 and ABCG1, which promote cholesterol efflux from macrophages and suppress atherosclerosis in hypercholesterolemic mice, displayed leukocytosis, a transplantable myeloproliferative disorder, and a dramatic expansion of the stem and progenitor cell containing Lin–Sca-1+Kit+ (LSK) population in the bone marrow. Transplantation of Abca1–/– Abcg1–/– bone marrow into apoA-1 transgenic mice with high HDL suppressed the LSK population, reduced leukocytosis, and reversed both the myeloproliferative disorder and accelerated atherosclerosis. The findings indicate that ABCA1, ABCG1, and HDL inhibit the proliferation of hematopoietic stem and multipotential progenitor cells and connect expansion of these populations with leukocytosis and accelerated atherosclerosis.
1 Division of Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
2 Department of Gene and Cell Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA.
