Oxidized Low-density Lipoprotein Upregulates GM2 Activator Protein Gene Expression

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) has been shown to be a powerful regulator of gene expression in monocyte-derived macrophage. To determine the effects of oxidized LDL on macrophage gene expression, macrophages incubated with native or oxidized LDL were analyzed by differential display technique. The differentially expressed cDNA (387 bp) fragment by oxidized LDL showed 100% homology to the part of 3’-untranslated region of the gene of human GM2 activator protein. Quantitative RT-PCR data using specific TaqMan probe showed the increased GM2 activator protein mRNA expression in macrophages incubated with oxidized LDL by about twice (215.4±31.6 %) of that in macrophages incubated with native LDL. Our results shows that ox-LDL upregulates GM2 activator protein gene expression, indicating that GM2 activator protein may be associated with the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.