MABN893 Sigma-AldrichAnti-ABCA1 Antibody, clone MABI98-7

To investigate the interaction of ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) with calmodulin in relation to its calpain-mediated degradation because many calpain substrates bind calmodulin to regulate cellular functions.The activity of ABCA1 is regulated through proteolysis by calpain. An immunoprecipitation and glutathione S-transferase pull-down assay revealed that ABCA1 directly binds calmodulin in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. The cytoplasmic loop of ABCA1 contains a typical calmodulin binding sequence of 1-5-8-14 motifs (1245 to 1257 amino acids). The peptide of this region showed binding to calmodulin, and deletion of the 1-5-8-14 motif abolished this interaction. This motif is located near the ABCA1 Pro-Glu-Ser-Thr sequence, and the presence of calmodulin/Ca(2+) protected the peptides from proteolysis by calpain. The knockdown of calmodulin by a specific small and interfering RNA increased the degradation of ABCA1 and decreased ABCA1 protein and apolipoprotein A-I-mediated lipid release. Surprisingly, calmodulin inhibitor W7 increased calmodulin binding to ABCA1 and protected it from calpain-mediated degradation, consistent with our previous finding that this compound increased apolipoprotein A-I-mediated cell cholesterol release.Calmodulin directly binds and stabilizes ABCA1 in the presence of Ca(2+) and increases the generation of high-density lipoprotein.

Serum amyloid A (SAA) was markedly increased in the plasma and in the liver upon acute inflammation induced by intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in mice, and SAA in the plasma was exclusively associated with HDL. In contrast, no HDL was present in the plasma and only a small amount of SAA was found in the VLDL/LDL fraction (d < 1.063 g/ml) after the induction of inflammation in ABCA1-knockout (KO) mice, although SAA increased in the liver. Primary hepatocytes isolated from LPS-treated wild-type (WT) and ABCA1-KO mice both secreted SAA into the medium. SAA secreted from WT hepatocytes was associated with HDL, whereas SAA from ABCA1-KO hepatocytes was recovered in the fraction that was >1.21 g/ml. The behavior of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) was the same as that of SAA in HDL biogenesis by WT and ABCA1-KO mouse hepatocytes. Lipid-free SAA and apoA-I both stabilized ABCA1 and caused cellular lipid release in WT mouse-derived fibroblasts, but not in ABCA1-KO mouse-derived fibroblasts, in vitro when added exogenously. We conclude that both SAA and apoA-I generate HDL largely in hepatocytes only in the presence of ABCA1, likely being secreted in a lipid-free form to interact with cellular ABCA1. In the absence of ABCA1, nonlipidated SAA is seemingly removed rapidly from the extracellular space.