The effect of ABCG1 deficiency on atherosclerotic lesion development in LDL receptor knockout mice depends on the stage of atherogenesis

ObjectiveAs ABCG1 plays a role in cholesterol efflux, macrophage ABCG1 expression has been suggested to protect against atherosclerosis. However, we and others observed varying effects of ABCG1 deficiency on atherosclerotic lesion size. The objective of this study was to define the effect of ABCG1 deficiency during atherosclerotic lesion progression in LDL receptor knockout (LDLr−/−) mice.Methods and resultsABCG1−/−/LDLr−/− and ABCG1+/+/LDLr−/− littermates were fed a Western-type diet for 10 and 12 weeks in order to study the effect of ABCG1 deficiency in the exponential phase of atherosclerotic lesion formation. At 10 weeks of diet feeding, a significant 1.5-fold increase in early atherosclerotic lesion size (130 ± 12 × 103 μm2) was observed in ABCG1−/−/LDLr−/− mice compared to ABCG1+/+/LDLr−/− mice (88 ± 11 × 103 μm2; p < 0.05). Interestingly, in more advanced lesions, induced by 12 weeks of WTD feeding, ABCG1−/−/LDLr−/− mice showed a significant 1.7-fold decrease in atherosclerotic lesion size (160 ± 20 × 103 μm2 vs 273 ± 19 × 103 μm2 in control mice; p < 0.01), indicating that in the ABCG1−/−/LDLr−/− mice progression of lesion formation is retarded as compared to ABCG1+/+/LDLr−/− mice. In addition, correlation analysis performed on 7 independent published studies and the current study confirmed that ABCG1 is atheroprotective in early lesions, while the development of advanced lesions is stimulated.ConclusionsIt appears that the effect of ABCG1 deficiency on lesion development in LDLr−/− mice depends on the stage of atherogenesis, whereby the absence of ABCG1 leads to increased lesions at sizes < 167 × 103 μm2 while in more advanced stages of atherosclerosis enhanced apoptosis and/or compensatory mechanisms lead to retarded lesion progression.