Cholesterol-loaded foam cell macrophages are prominent in atherosclerotic lesions and
play complex roles in both inflammatory signaling and lipid metabolism, which are
underpinned by large scale reprogramming of gene expression. We performed a microarray
study of primary human macrophages that showed that transcription of the sphingomyelin
phosphodiesterase acid-like 3A (SMPDL3A) gene is up-regulated after cholesterol loading.
SMPDL3A protein expression in and secretion from primary macrophages are stimulated by …