Cavin-1 regulates caveolae-mediated LDL transcytosis: crosstalk in an AMPK/eNOS/ NF-κB/Sp1 loop.

Caveolae are specialized lipid rafts structure in the cell membrane and critical for regulating endothelial functions, transcytosis of macromolecules like low density lipoprotein (LDL) . Specifically, the organization and functions of caveolae are mediated by structure protein (caveolin-1) and adapter protein (cavin-1). The pathogenic role of caveolin-1 is well studied; nevertheless, mechanisms whereby cavin-1 regulates signaling transduction remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was designed to explore the role of cavin-1 in caveolae-mediated LDL transcytosis across endothelial cells. We reported here that cavin-1 knockdown mediated by small interfering RNA (siRNA) caused a significant decrease of LDL transcytosis. Moreover, cavin-1 knockdown increased the activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and the production of nitric oxide (NO). Consequently, an eNOS inhibitor, N-Nitro-L-Arginine Methyl Ester (L-NAME), not only suppressed the activity of specificity protein (Sp1) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), but also inhibited both activities via activating adenosine 5'-monophosphate- activated protein kinase (AMPK). In conclusion, we proposed an AMPK/eNOS/NF-κB/Sp1 circuit loop was formed to regulate caveolae residing proteins' expression, LDL receptor (LDLR), caveolin-1, eNOS, thereby to regulate caveolae-mediated LDL transcytosis in endothelial cells.