极低密度脂蛋白受体研究进展

Advances in Very Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor Research

极低密度脂蛋白受体 (VLDL R)属于低密度脂蛋白受体 (LDL R)超家族 ,结构上与LDL R极为相似 ,而在结合特性、组织分布及生理功能上存在较大的差异 .近年来的研究表明 ,VLDL R配体结合域中的重复序列参与配体的结合 ,并已初步确定受体N端的 4个重复序列中含有与配体结合的重要位点 ;在哺乳动物体内 ,VLDL R主要分布于脂代谢活跃的组织细胞 ,如 :心肌、骨骼肌和脂肪组织等 ,表明其与脂质尤其是甘油三酯的代谢密切相关 ;动脉粥样硬化 (AS)的病变斑块组织中该受体的表达量很高 ,推测VLDL R参与了AS的病变过程 ;在不同的细胞内 ,VLDL R及其亚型的表达并不一致 ,并发现与各种生理、病理变化相关 ,已经发现多种转录因子参与VLDL R表达的调控 ;基因敲除研究也不断揭示VLDL R新的功能意义 ,特别是发现了VLDL R在脑的发育过程中的重要信号作用 ,这些研究已使人们对VLDL

Very low density lipoprotein receptor(VLDL\|R) belongs to the superfamily of low density lipoprotein receptor (LDL\|R) with similar gene and protein structure, but with obvious difference in receptor's binding characteristic, tissue distribution, physiological significance. Recent years, studies have shown that the ligand\|binding repeats(LBR) in the receptor's ligand\|binding domain contained important ligand\|binding site, especially for the first four LBRs at the N\|terminal of the receptor. In mammalia, VLDL\|R was found distributing in metabolism\|active tissues, such as heart, skeletal muscle and fat tissue, indicating it taking part in lipid metabolism especially for triacylglycerol. Highly expressed VLDL\|R in the plaque tissue indicated that the receptor might be related with the mechanism of atherosclerosis. In different cells, VLDL\|R and its subtypes were not consistent in their expression. Their expresson were found to be related with all sort of physiological and pathological changes and regulated by lots of transcription factors. Gene knock\|out studies have shown new function of VLDL\|R, particularly in signal transduction in brain development. All of these made the receptor to be understood more clearly than before.