Purification and substrate specificity of lecithin—cholesterol acyl transferase from human plasma

Lecithin-cholesterol acyl transferase is active in the production of cholesterol esters and lysolecithin from the free cholesterol and lecithin moieties of the mammalian plasma lipoproteins, and is the major source of human plasma cholesterol esters [ 1, 21. In the present research, this enzyme has been purified 2500-fold from human plasma. The purified enzyme is active only against the HDLa and VHDL classes of plasma lipoproteins. It has a half life of 3 hr at 4”. The protein moiety of these classes is required for the significant esterification of cholesterol in sonically dispersed lipid emulsions.