Effect of a novel squalene epoxidase inhibitor, NB-598, on the regulation of cholesterol metabolism in Hep G2 cells.

We have reported previously that NB-598 competitively inhibits human squalene epoxidase and strongly inhibits cholesterol synthesis from [14C]acetate in cultured cells. Furthermore, multiple oral administration of NB-598 decreased serum cholesterol levels in dogs (Horie, M., Tsuchiya, Y., Hayashi, M., Iida, Y., Iwasawa, Y., Nagata, Y., Sawasaki, Y., Fukuzumi, H., Kitani, K., and Kamei, T. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 18075-18078). In the present study, the effects of NB-598 on 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase and low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) receptor were examined using a human hepatoma cell line Hep G2. Incubation of Hep G2 cells with NB-598 for 18 h increased HMG-CoA reductase activity in a dose-dependent manner. However, the increase in activity induced by NB-598 was lower than that induced by L-654,969 (a potent HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor), although NB-598 inhibited cholesterol synthesis more potently than L-654,969. On the other hand, HMG-CoA reductase mRNA was increased to the same extent by both inhibitors. These results demonstrate that NB-598 does not inhibit the synthesis of non-sterol derivative(s) of mevalonate, which regulate HMG-CoA reductase activity at the post-transcriptional level. NB-598 increased the binding of 125I-LDL to Hep G2 cells. LDL receptor mRNA was also induced by NB-598. In the presence of LDL or cycloheximide, NB-598 did not increase LDL receptor activity. These results demonstrate that the induction of LDL receptor activity by NB-598 is due to increases in mRNA and protein through the inhibition of cholesterol synthesis at the squalene epoxidase step. From these observations, squalene epoxidase inhibitor is expected to be highly effective in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia and also is very useful as a research tool for studying the regulation of cholesterol metabolism.