人酰基辅酶A:胆固醇酰基转移酶(ACAT)

Human Acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol Aacyltransferase(ACAT)

酰基辅酶A:胆固醇酰基转移酶(ACAT)是细胞内唯一合成胆固醇酯的酶,在细胞和生物体胆固醇代谢平衡中起非常重要的作用。人类一些重要疾病如涉及心脑血管病的动脉粥样硬化、神经系统的阿尔海默氏疾病及结石病等,都与ACAT密切相关。因此,ACAT已成为分子筛药的重要靶蛋白。本文主要介绍了ACAT的生理功能和病理作用,概述了ACAT的研究进展,并对ACAT未来的研究方向进行了展望。

Acyl-CoA： cholesterol acyltransferase （ACAT） is an intracellular enzyme that catalyzes the formation of cholesterol esters from long-chain fatty acyl coenzyme A and cholesterol. ACAT plays a very important role in maintaining cellular and organisreal cholesterol homeostasis. ACATs are involved in some serious human diseases including atherosclerosis, Alzheimer＇s disease and gallstone.For these reasons,ACAT has been a pharmaceutical target for developing cholesterol-lowering and/or anti-atherosclerosis drugs. In this paper, we introduced the physiological and pathological functions of ACAT, summarized the research evolvement of ACAT and indicated the future develop direction of ACAT.