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Old HDL learns a new (anti-inflammatory) trick

Nature Immunology volume 15, pages 138–139 (2014)Cite this article

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In addition to its canonical role in reverse cholesterol transport, high-density lipoprotein can suppress inflammation in target cells through the induction of Atf3, which encodes a well-known transcriptional repressor.

Decades of outcome- and association-based clinical investigation have elevated high-density lipoprotein (HDL), a class of complex, lipid-laden particles comprising ∼100 different proteins, to almost panacean status in both the medical literature and common parlance, where it is known widely as the 'good cholesterol'1,2. Despite that august reputation, HDL's activity has until recently been largely explained by reference to reverse cholesterol transport—its originally identified function—despite growing evidence of other important functions subsumed by this particle3,4. Indeed, in this issue of Nature Immunology, De Nardo et al. describe a novel and apparently cholesterol transport–independent mechanism by which HDL exerts a potent anti-inflammatory influence over target cell populations5.

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Figure 1: HDL suppresses TLR ligand–induced inflammation via activation of Atf3.

Marina Corral Spence

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Justin I. Odegaard is with the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.,

    Justin I Odegaard

  2. the Department of Physiology and the Department of Medicine, Ajay Chawla is with the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.,

    Ajay Chawla

Authors
  1. Justin I Odegaard
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  2. Ajay Chawla
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Correspondence to Ajay Chawla.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Odegaard, J., Chawla, A. Old HDL learns a new (anti-inflammatory) trick. Nat Immunol 15, 138–139 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.2798

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