Increased NPC1L1 and ACAT2 expression in the jejunal mucosa from Chinese gallstone patients

The incidence of cholesterol gallstones is a very common disease. The aim of this study is to probe for underlying intestinal molecular defects associated with development of gallstones. Twelve Chinese patients with cholesterol gallstone disease (GS) and 31 gallstone-free (GSF) patients were investigated. Quantitation of mRNA levels for individual genes in mucosal biopsies from jejunum was carried out with real-time PCR. The frequency of two SNPs in the ABCG8 gene (Y54C and T400K) was determined by allelic discrimination. The intestinal mRNA expression of NPC1L1 and ACAT2 were significantly higher in GS than GSF (P < 0.05). No differences were observed concerning the levels for plasma lipids, plant sterols and 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one between GS and GSF. No correlations were observed between patients carrying the different genotypes for Y54C or T400K and their mRNA levels for ABCG5 or ABCG8. The increased NPC1L1 and ACAT2 mRNA levels in gallstone patients might indicate an upregulated absorption and esterification of cholesterol in the small intestine.