Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2017 06 20;37(6):1068-1075. Epub 2017 Apr 20.
From the Center for Advanced Models for Translational Sciences and Therapeutics, Department of Internal Medicine (J.Z., D.Y., J.L., J.X., Y.G., Y.F., T.Z., J.S., Y.K., M.G.-B., Y.E.C.), Department of Internal Medicine, Nephrology (A.V.M., S.P.), University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor; Department of Molecular Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Japan (M.N., T.K., J.F.); Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biointerfaces Institute, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan (R.A., A.S.); and Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences (L.L.).
Objective: CETP (cholesteryl ester transfer protein) plays an important role in lipoprotein metabolism; however, whether inhibition of CETP activity can prevent cardiovascular disease remains controversial.
Approach And Results: We generated CETP knockout (KO) rabbits by zinc finger nuclease gene editing and compared their susceptibility to cholesterol diet-induced atherosclerosis to that of wild-type (WT) rabbits. On a chow diet, KO rabbits showed higher plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol than WT controls, and HDL particles of KO rabbits were essentially rich in apolipoprotein AI and apolipoprotein E contents. Read More