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Center for Lipid and Arteriosclerosis Studies, Departments of Pathology and Internal Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH
DOI 10.1194/jlr.M200129-JLR200
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: huidy{at}email.uc.edu
| ABSTRACT |
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Taken together, these results indicate that the hyperlipidemic effect of HIV protease inhibitors is a direct result of increased hepatic lipoprotein production. The mechanism appears to be related to their role in preventing proteasome-mediated degradation of apoB and activated sterol regulatory element binding proteins in the liver.
Abbreviations: HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; MTP, microsomal triglyceride transfer protein; SREBP, sterol regulatory element binding protein
Supplementary key words anti-retroviral therapy very low density lipoprotein synthesis apolipoprotein B high-fat diet
| INTRODUCTION |
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The mechanism by which HIV protease inhibitor therapy results in hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance remains incompletely understood. However, it appears that the various HIV protease inhibitors have dramatically different effects on hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance. For example, indinavir appears to induce insulin resistance without hyperlipidemia in HIV seronegative patients (9). In HIV subjects, indinavir treatment causes only mild hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia is less common (10). In contrast, both serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels are dramatically elevated in ritonavir-treated seronegative and HIV-positive patients (10, 11). These observations suggest that the various protease inhibitors may affect plasma lipid levels through different mechanisms. An understanding of the complete mechanism by which each of these protease inhibitors causes these metabolic abnormalities will improve our ability to predict and prevent adverse effects associated with the use of highly active anti-retroviral therapy for HIV-infected individuals.
Ritonavir is a prototype HIV protease inhibitor that causes the most severe hyperlipidemic effects in humans (510). In a previous study using the mouse as an animal model, we showed that ritonavir treatment increased serum triglyceride and cholesterol levels through increased fatty acid and cholesterol biosynthesis in the liver (12). Additionally, we showed that ritonavir-induced expression of genes relating to lipid metabolism can be attributed to the accumulation of activated sterol regulatory element binding proteins (SREBPs) in the liver (12). The mechanism is likely mediated by protease inhibitor suppression of proteasome degradation of the activated SREBPs (12, 13).
Another lipid metabolic pathway that is regulated by proteasomes is the VLDL synthesis and secretion pathway in the liver. In this process, newly synthesized apolipoprotein B (apoB) can either be assembled with lipids in the endoplasmic reticulum to form lipoproteins or be degraded in the cytoplasm by proteasomes (1417). Thus, protease inhibitor suppression of proteasome activities may also result in increased hepatic VLDL production. This hypothesis has been tested in a recent in vitro study with cultured human and rat hepatoma cells and with primary hepatocytes isolated from apoB transgenic mice (18). This study showed that HIV protease inhibitors were effective in inhibiting apoB degradation, causing intracellular accumulation of apoB in the liver (18). However, protease inhibitor-induced increase of VLDL secretion was observed only in cells treated with oleic acid and not in cells treated in the absence of fatty acids (18). Therefore, it remains uncertain if protease inhibitors can influence hepatic VLDL synthesis and secretion in vivo and if the effect can be modulated by dietary fat. This study was undertaken to examine the effect of ritonavir on hepatic lipoprotein production in vivo under both low-fat and high-fat dietary conditions. Additional studies were also undertaken to determine the effect of HIV protease inhibitors on lipoprotein clearance from circulation.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Lipoprotein secretion
Lipoprotein secretion by mouse liver was determined based on serum accumulation of triglycerides after injection with Triton WR1339 to inhibit lipolysis and lipoprotein clearance from circulation (19). Control and ritonavir-treated mice were fasted for 4 h and then anesthetized with a mixture of ketamine (80 mg/kg, Fort Dodge Laboratories) and xylazine (16 mg/kg, The Butler Co.). A 100 microliter saline solution containing 12.5 mg of Triton WR1339 was then injected into the saphenous vein. The animals were allowed to recover, usually within a 20- to 30-min period. Blood samples were collected by retro-orbital puncture, both before Triton WR1339 infusion and at hourly intervals afterwards for 4 h for lipid and apoB determinations.
ApoB measurement
Two microliters of serum from mouse blood were electrophoresed in 4% to 15% SDS-polyacrylamide gradient gels, transferred to nitrocellulose paper, and then hybridized with a 1:5,000 dilution of rabbit anti-mouse apoB antiserum (BioDesign, Saco, Maine). The immunoreactive products were detected by incubation with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-rabbit IgG (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Piscataway, NJ) and then developed with enhanced chemiluminescence reagents purchased from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech. After exposure of the nitrocellulose paper to X-ray films, the image was scanned into the computer for quantitation with an ImageQuant program (Molecular Dynamics, Inc.).
Northern blot analysis of diacylglycerol acyltransferase mRNA in liver
Livers from control and ritonavir-treated mice were removed and frozen immediately on dry ice prior to processing. Total RNA from individual mouse liver was prepared using the cold guanidine isothiocyanate method (20). Twenty micrograms of total RNA was electrophoresed in 1% formaldehyde-containing agarose gels, transferred to a Hybond-XL nylon membrane (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech), and hybridized with a 32P-labeled diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) cDNA probe (generously provided by Dr. Robert Farese, Jr., Gladstone Institute, San Francisco, CA). A 32P-labeled rat glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase cDNA probe was used as control for normalization of sample loading. Hybridization was carried out for 18 h at 42°C in buffer containing 50% formamide, 5x SSC (1x SSC contains 15 mM sodium citrate, 150 mM NaCl), 1x Denhardt's solution, 1% SDS, and 2 mg/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA. Blots were washed once at 25°C for 15 min with 2x SSC containing 0.1% SDS, and then two times at 42°C for 30 min in 0.2x SSC buffer containing 0.1% SDS. The blots were exposed to Kodak phosphor imager screens, scanned with the Storm 840 Phosphoimager, and quantitated by computer image analysis (ImageQuant, Molecular Dynamics). Samples from chow-fed, vehicle-treated mice were taken as the baseline value for analysis.
Microsomal triglyceride transfer protein determination
Livers from control and ritonavir-treated mice were removed and immediately rinsed in ice-cold phosphate buffered saline. The tissues were then used immediately to prepare membrane extracts. All procedures were performed on ice. The liver was placed in 10 vol of homogenization buffer consisting of 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4), 2 mM MgCl2, and 0.25 M sucrose. The buffer was supplemented just prior to use with a protease inhibitor cocktail consisting of 25 µg/ml N-acetyl-leucyl-leucyl-norleucinal, 10 µg/ml leupeptin, 5 µg/ml pepstatin, 2 µg/ml aprotinin, and 0.5 mM PMSF (all from Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO). The liver was homogenized with a polytron and then centrifuged at 800 g for 15 min. The resulting supernatant was placed in a fresh tube and centrifuged again at 130,000 g for 90 min at 4°C. The pellet was resuspended by passing through a 26-gauge needle 10 times in a buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0), 2 mM MgCl2, 1% SDS, and 2% Triton X100. The resulting solution was then centrifuged at 100,000 g for 30 min. The protein content of the supernatant was determined by the Lowry method (21).
An aliquot of membrane protein (25 µg) was electrophoresed in a 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel, transferred to nitrocellulose membrane, and incubated with goat anti-microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) antiserum (kindly provided by Dr. John Wetterau (Bristol-Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ). Immunoreactive products were detected by incubation with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-goat IgG (BioRad, Hercules, CA), followed by enhanced chemiluminescence reaction with a kit obtained from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech. The nitrocellulose was exposed to Kodak films, and the image was scanned into a computer.
Lipoprotein clearance
Lipid emulsions containing triglyceride and cholesteryl esters were used to mimic triglyceride-rich lipoproteins for measurement of lipoprotein clearance from circulation (22, 23). The lipid emulsion was prepared by mixing 70 mg triolein, 3 mg cholesteryl oleate, 2 mg cholesterol, 25 mg phosphatidylcholine, and 100 µCi [3H]triolein in organic solvent. After evaporation of the solvent to dryness under N2, the lipid mixture was resuspended in 8.5 ml of buffer containing 10 mM Hepes (pH 7.4) and 150 mM NaCl and then sonicated in ice for 30 min. The density of the crude emulsion was adjusted to 1.10 gm/ml with solid KBr and then centrifuged at 71,150 g for 22 min at 20°C over a step gradient of 1.006, 1.02, and 1.065 gm/ml density solutions. The coarse material on the top of the gradient was removed and replaced with fresh 1.006 gm/ml density solution, and the sample was re-centrifuged at 86,100 g for 20 min at 20°C. The emulsion particles that floated to the top of the density gradient were isolated and used within 24 h. To determine plasma clearance of the lipid emulsion particles, control and ritonavir-treated male C57BL/6 mice were injected intravenously with 100 µl of the prepared emulsions through the tail vein. Blood samples were withdrawn by retro-orbital puncture at set time points over a 20 min period. Serum was obtained from each blood sample by centrifugation, and an aliquot of the serum sample was used for liquid scintillation counting.
Lipid analysis
Blood samples were collected from mice under anesthesia. Serum was obtained by centrifugation and then analyzed for triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations with kits obtained from Wako Chemicals (Richmond, Virginia).
Statistical analysis
Data are presented as mean ± SEM For parametric data, means were compared by one-way ANOVA followed by the Tukey test. For nonparametric data, the Mann-Whitney rank sum test was used.
| RESULTS |
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| DISCUSSION |
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One noted difference in results between the current in vivo studies and previously reported in vitro experiments is the protease inhibitor effects on apoB secretion under low-fat conditions. Previously, Liang et al. (18) showed that in the absence of exogenously supplied oleic acid, apoB was retained in liver cells after protease inhibitor treatment. Protease inhibitor-induced hepatic apoB secretion was observed in vitro only when the cells were supplemented with fatty acids (18). However, in the current in vivo studies, we documented ritonavir-induced apoB secretion even when the animals were maintained on a low-fat diet. The apparent discrepancy between the in vivo and the in vitro studies may be explained by differences in experimental design of the two studies. In the in vitro studies, experiments were designed to optimize the apoB degradation pathway by incubating hepatocytes in a lipid-free environment. Under these conditions, with a reduced fat supply, newly translated apoB is expected to be degraded by proteasome-mediated pathways (1417). The intracellular accumulation of nondegraded apoB nicely demonstrated protease inhibitor suppression of proteasome-mediated apoB degradation (18). However, under in vivo conditions in which the liver is continuously exposed to circulating lipoproteins, fat supply to the liver was not limiting and the prevention of proteasome-mediated apoB degradation resulted in increased secretion of apoB-containing triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Furthermore, under high lipid throughput conditions, such as those observed in animals maintained chronically on a high-fat diet, proteasome inhibitor treatment resulted in additional increase of lipoprotein production above that observed with either high-fat diet or ritonavir treatment alone.
Another explanation for the differences observed between the current in vivo study and the previous in vitro study reported by Liang et al. (18) is the potential difference in regulation of hepatic lipid biosynthesis under in vivo and in vitro conditions. In the in vitro experiments, hepatocytes were obtained from apoB transgenic mice after an overnight fast (18). Under these conditions, the nucleus would be depleted of mature forms of both SREBP-1 and SREBP-2 (24), thereby resulting in the suppression of fat and cholesterol biosynthesis (18). Ritonavir treatment, which resulted in stabilization of the mature forms of SREBP-1 and SREBP-2 in the nucleus without affecting the proteolytic activation of the precursor SREBPs in membranes (12), would not be expected to induce lipid biosynthesis in liver cells cultured under these conditions. In contrast, under in vivo conditions where the mice were fed ad libitum, significant basal levels of activated SREBP-1 and SREBP-2 were present in the nucleus under normal conditions (12, 24). Ritonavir treatment prevented the proteasome-mediated hydrolysis of these transcription factors, thereby increasing their activities in promotion of endogenous lipid biosynthesis (12). The increased hepatic synthesis of fat and cholesterol, together with the stabilization of nascent apoB, may directly result in increased lipoprotein production after ritonavir treatment. In this regard, it is interesting to note that neither DGAT nor MTP expression level was altered by ritonavir treatment. Thus, these enzymes are apparently not rate-limiting in determining the amount of lipoproteins produced in the liver.
Results of the current study also revealed that ritonavir treatment has no effect on the clearance of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins from circulation in mice. Although physiology and several lipid metabolism pathways are different between mice and humans, the data are consistent with results demonstrating no abnormality in the clearance of remnant lipoproteins in ritonavir-treated normal human subjects (11). However, antiretroviral combination therapy was reported to reduce VLDL lipolysis in addition to increasing VLDL production in HIV-infected individuals (25). The discrepancy may be due to a difference between HIV-infected and non-infected subjects; Grunfeld et al. have demonstrated decreased VLDL triglyceride clearance and postheparin lipase activity in HIV-infected patients in comparison to normal individuals (26). Additionally, the combination therapy used routinely for treatment of HIV infection may also induce drug-drug interaction that adversely affects normal lipid metabolism in humans. These possibilities need to be assessed in more detail in future studies.
In summary, the current study, together with previous results reported by us and others (12, 18), indicate that ritonavir induced hyperlipidemia by increasing lipoprotein production by the liver via a mechanism related to its inhibition of proteasome-mediated hydrolysis of activated SREBP and apoB. Increased dietary fat content provided additional substrate for apoB-lipoprotein production, thereby exacerbating the adverse hyperlipidemia effects of the protease inhibitors. The latter observation suggests that reducing dietary fat intake may partially alleviate lipid abnormalities associated with HIV protease inhibitor therapy. However, as discussed above, the physiological difference between ritonavir-treated non-infected animals and HIV-infected individuals undergoing combination antiretroviral therapy requires additional testing in human subjects in a well-controlled clinical setting before any dietary recommendations can be made.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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Manuscript received March 19, 2002 and in revised form May 8, 2002.
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