What is it about?
Heart disease starts with the build-up of cholesterol in the wall of arteries. How this occurs has long been controversial. Recent data suggest that the endothelial cells that line arteries are able to internalize low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in small vesicles. These vesicles then cross the endothelium and deposit the LDL in the artery wall, a process known as transcytosis. Long-standing technical difficulties have made it challenging to understand how transcytosis is regulated. Here we show that the protein MYH9 is required for transcytosis by providing the propulsive force needed for the vesicles to release the LDL out of the endothelial cell.
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Why is it important?
Even though LDL transcytosis is one of the earliest steps in atherosclerosis, little is known about how is regulated. Most work to date has focused on events at the cell surface. By isolating the vesicles that carry LDL across the cells, we have begun to unravel the inner workings of LDL transcytosis. Work like this will lead to novel ways to prevent or perhaps reverse atherosclerosis.
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This page is a summary of: Lipid raft proteomics identify endothelial myosin-9 (MYH9) as a regulator of low-density lipoprotein transcytosis and atherosclerosis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2509315122.
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