Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
Department of Medicine, The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, McGill University, Montreal, QC H4A 3J1, Canada.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Oct 11;23(20):12115. doi: 10.3390/ijms232012115.
Cholesterol is a lipid molecule essential for several key cellular processes including steroidogenesis. As such, the trafficking and distribution of cholesterol is tightly regulated by various pathways that include vesicular and non-vesicular mechanisms. One non-vesicular mechanism is the binding of cholesterol to cholesterol transport proteins, which facilitate the movement of cholesterol between cellular membranes. Classic examples of cholesterol transport proteins are the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (STAR; STARD1), which facilitates cholesterol transport for acute steroidogenesis in mitochondria, and sterol carrier protein 2/sterol carrier protein-x (SCP2/SCPx), which are non-specific lipid transfer proteins involved in the transport and metabolism of many lipids including cholesterol between several cellular compartments. This review discusses the roles of STAR and SCP2/SCPx in cholesterol transport as model cholesterol transport proteins, as well as more recent findings that support the role of these proteins in the transport and/or metabolism of other lipids.
胆固醇是一种脂质分子，对包括类固醇生成在内的几种关键细胞过程至关重要。因此，胆固醇的运输和分布受到多种途径的严格调节，包括囊泡和非囊泡机制。一种非囊泡机制是胆固醇与胆固醇转运蛋白的结合，这有助于胆固醇在细胞膜之间的移动。胆固醇转运蛋白的典型例子是类固醇生成急性调节蛋白（STAR；STARD1），它促进胆固醇在线粒体中急性类固醇生成的转运，固醇载体蛋白 2/固醇载体蛋白-x（SCP2/SCPx），它们是非特异性脂质转运蛋白，参与包括胆固醇在内的许多脂质在几个细胞区室之间的运输和代谢。本综述讨论了 STAR 和 SCP2/SCPx 在胆固醇转运中的作用，作为模型胆固醇转运蛋白，以及最近的发现支持这些蛋白在其他脂质的转运和/或代谢中的作用。
