Akkermansia muciniphila, a member of the gut microbiome, has been shown to improve metabolism in mice. Here it is reported that its pasteurization further improves this effect, and that one of its membrane proteins by itself has a similar benefit.

Cholesterol-loaded macrophage foam cells are a central component of atherosclerotic lesions. ABCA1, the defective molecule in Tangier disease, mediates the efflux of phospholipids and cholesterol from cells to apoA-I, reversing foam cell formation. In ABCA1, we identified a sequence rich in proline, glutamic acid, serine, and threonine (PEST sequence) that enhances the degradation of ABCA1 by calpain protease and thereby controls the cell surface concentration and cholesterol efflux activity of ABCA1. In an apparent positive feedback loop, apoA-I binds ABCA1, promotes lipid efflux, inhibits calpain degradation, and leads to increased levels of ABCA1. ApoA-I infusion also increases ABCA1 in vivo. These studies reveal a novel mode of regulation of ABCA1 by PEST sequence–mediated calpain proteolysis that appears to be reversed by apolipoprotein-mediated phospholipid efflux. Inhibition of ABCA1 degradation by calpain could represent a novel therapeutic approach to increasing macrophage cholesterol efflux and decreasing atherosclerosis.

ATP-binding cassette transporter 1 (ABCA1), the defective transporter in Tangier disease, binds and promotes cellular cholesterol and phospholipid efflux to apolipoprotein I (apoA-I). Based on a high degree of sequence homology between ABCA1 and ABCA7, a transporter of unknown function, we investigated the possibility that ABCA7 might be involved in apolipoprotein binding and lipid efflux. Similarly to cells expressing ABCA1, HEK293 cells overexpressing ABCA7 showed specific binding and cross-linking of lipid-poor apoA-I. ABCA7 expression increased cellular phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin efflux to apoA-I in a manner similar to ABCA1 but had no effect on cholesterol efflux. Western analysis showed a high protein level of ABCA7 in mouse spleen, lung, adrenal, and brain but low expression in liver. In contrast to ABCA1, ABCA7 showed moderate basal mRNA and protein levels in macrophages and lymphocytes but no induction by liver X receptor activation. These studies show that ABCA7 has the ability to bind apolipoproteins and promote efflux of cellular phospholipids without cholesterol, and they suggest a possible role of ABCA7 in cellular phospholipid metabolism in peripheral tissues.

ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1), the defective molecule in Tangier disease, mediates the apoAI-dependent efflux of excess cholesterol from cells. We recently showed that ABCA1 proteolysis by calpain was dependent on a PEST sequence in the cytoplasmic region of ABCA1 and was reversed by apoA-I interaction with ABCA1. We show here that phosphorylation of ABCA1 in HEK293 cells was reduced by 63 ± 2.4% after removal of the PEST sequence (ABCA1delPEST) or by incubation of cells with apoAI (58 ± 3.3%). By contrast, ABCA1delPEST showed no further decrease of phosphorylation upon apoAI treatment. To assess the hypothesis that PEST sequence phosphorylation could regulate ABCA1 calpain proteolysis, we mutagenized S/T residues in the PEST sequence and identified Thr-1286 and Thr-1305 as constitutively phosphorylated residues. The ABCA1-T1286A/T1305A mutant was not degraded by calpain and was not further stabilized upon apoA-I treatment. The T1286A/T1305A mutant showed a 3.1-fold increase in cell surface expression and a 2.3-fold increase of apoAI-mediated cholesterol efflux compared with wild type ABCA1. In conclusion, we propose a mechanism of regulation of ABCA1 cell surface expression and function in which the interaction with apoA-I results in dephosphorylation of the ABCA1 PEST sequence and thereby inhibits calpain degradation leading to an increase of ABCA1 cell surface expression.