title: The Role of Macrophage Lipophagy in Reverse Cholesterol Transport.
abstract: Macrophage cholesterol efflux is a central step in reverse cholesterol transport, which helps to maintain cholesterol homeostasis and to reduce atherosclerosis. Lipophagy has recently been identified as a new step in cholesterol ester hydrolysis that regulates cholesterol efflux, since it mobilizes cholesterol from lipid droplets of macrophages via autophagy and lysosomes. In this review, we briefly discuss recent advances regarding the mechanisms of the cholesterol efflux pathway in macrophage foam cells, and present lipophagy as a therapeutic target in the treatment of atherosclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Immune and Vascular Cell Network Research Center, National Creative Initiatives, Department of Life Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Se Jin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7007-3879
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.affiliation: Immune and Vascular Cell Network Research Center, National Creative Initiatives, Department of Life Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Mi Ni
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5277-6829
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Immune and Vascular Cell Network Research Center, National Creative Initiatives, Department of Life Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea. gootaeg@ewha.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Goo Taeg
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1104-1698
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Oh
keywords: Atherosclerosis; Cholesterol efflux; Lipophagy; Macrophages; Reverse cholesterol transport