The role of hypercholesterolemic diet and vitamin E on Nrf2 pathway, endoplasmic reticulum stress and proteasome activity.

Hypercholesterolemia is the major risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis and vitamin E is suggested to have a preventive role in this process (1), although the mechanism of action still remains unclear.The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) may in?uence atherosclerosis by affecting disease-relevant cellular processes such as apoptosis, proliferation, and differentiation, or by affecting cellular stress responses and/or adaptive phenomena, such as ER stress, in?ammation, and redox homeostasis (2). NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor that controls the expression of phase II detoxi?cation and antioxidant genes.