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The effl ux of cholesterol from macrophages in the arterial wall is thought to be an early step in the process termed reverse cholesterol transport (RCT; 1-2 ). Effl ux can be mediated by a number of pathways involving 1 ) aqueous diffusion, 2 ) scavenger receptor BI (SR-B1), 3 ) ABCG1, and 4 ) ABCA1 Although all of these pathways can contribute to the removal of free cholesterol (FC) from cells, it is ABCA1 that has been shown to play a major role in the maintenance of normal cholesterol levels in tissues, as demonstrated by the accumulation of large amounts of cholesterol in macrophages in individuals with genetic mutations in ABCA1 (Tangier disease) or in mouse models in which this protein is genetically eliminated
Sankaranarayanan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.