Jan 13th, 2021

Unfolded Protein Response Drives Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotypic Changes With Cholesterol

Abhijnan Chattopadhyay, Callie S. Kwartler, Kaveeta Kaw, Yanming Li, Anita Kaw, Jiyuan Chen, Scott A. LeMaire, Ying H. Shen, Dianna M. Milewicz
Originally published 8 Oct 2020 | Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
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Abstract

Objective:

Vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) dedifferentiate and initiate expression of macrophage markers with cholesterol exposure. This phenotypic switching is dependent on the transcription factor Klf4 (Krüppel-like factor 4). We investigated the molecular pathway by which cholesterol induces SMC phenotypic switching.

The complete article can be found at https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/ATVBAHA.120.315164.