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Review
. 2006 Mar;38(3):151-6.
doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7270.2006.00154.x.

Human acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) and its potential as a target for pharmaceutical intervention against atherosclerosis

Catherine Chang  1 , Ruhong Dong, Akira Miyazaki, Naomi Sakashita, Yi Zhang, Jay Liu, Michael Guo, Bo-Liang Li, Ta-Yuan Chang
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Human acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) and its potential as a target for pharmaceutical intervention against atherosclerosis

Catherine Chang et al. Acta Biochim Biophys Sin (Shanghai). 2006 Mar.
Free article

Abstract

Acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) catalyzes the formation of cholesteryl esters from cholesterol and long-chain fatty-acyl-coenzyme A. At the single-cell level, ACAT serves as a regulator of intracellular cholesterol homeostasis. In addition, ACAT supplies cholesteryl esters for lipoprotein assembly in the liver and small intestine. Under pathological conditions, the accumulation of cholesteryl esters produced by ACAT in macrophages contributes to foam cell formation, a hallmark of the early stage of atherosclerosis. Several reviews addressing various aspects of ACAT and ACAT inhibitors are available. This review briefly outlines the current knowledge on the biochemical properties of human ACATs, and then focuses on discussing the merit of ACAT as a drug target for pharmaceutical interventions against atherosclerosis.

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