Journal of Lipid Research, Vol 30, 1579-1589, Copyright © 1989 by Lipid Research, Inc.
Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase-induced transformation of HepG2 lipoproteins
MR McCall, AV Nichols, PJ Blanche, VG Shore and TM Forte
Donner Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA.
Previous studies with the human hepatoblastoma-derived HepG2 cell line in
this laboratory have shown that these cells produce high density
lipoproteins (HDL) that are similar to HDL isolated from patients with
familial lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) deficiency.
Experiments were, therefore, performed to determine whether HepG2 HDL could
be transformed into plasma-like particles by incubation with LCAT.
Concentrated HepG2 lipoproteins (d less than 1.235 g/ml) were incubated
with purified LCAT or lipoprotein-deficient plasma (LPDP) for 4, 12, or 24
h at 37 degrees C. HDL isolated from control samples possessed excess
phospholipid and unesterified cholesterol relative to plasma HDL and
appeared as a mixed population of small spherical (7.8 +/- 1.3 nm) and
larger discoidal particles (17.7 +/- 4.9 nm long axis) by electron
microscopy. Nondenaturing gradient gel analysis (GGE) of control HDL showed
major peaks banding at 7.4, 10.0, 11.1, 12.2, and 14.7 nm. Following 4-h
LCAT and 12-h LPDP incubations, HepG2 HDL were mostly spherical by electron
microscopy and showed major peaks at 10.1 and 8.1 nm (LCAT) and 10.0 and
8.4 nm (LPDP) by GGE; the particle size distribution was similar to that of
plasma HDL. In addition, the chemical composition of HepG2 HDL at these
incubation times approximated that of plasma HDL. Molar increases in HDL
cholesteryl ester were accompanied by equimolar decreases in phospholipid
and unesterified cholesterol. HepG2 low density lipoproteins (LDL) isolated
from control samples showed a prominent protein band at 25.6 nm with GGE.
Active LPDP or LCAT incubations resulted in the appearance of additional
protein bands at 24.6 and 24.1 nm. No morphological changes were observed
with electron microscopy. Chemical analysis indicated that the LDL
cholesteryl ester formed was insufficient to account for phospholipid lost,
suggesting that LCAT phospholipase activity occurred without concomitant
cholesterol esterification.