Impact of android overweight or obesity and insulin resistance on basal and postprandial SR-BI and ABCA1-mediated serum cholesterol efflux capacities

Since android overweight/obesity and insulin resistance are independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease, we investigated their impact on basal and postprandial scavenger receptor BI (SR-BI) and ATP binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1)-mediated serum cholesterol efflux. Twelve android overweight to obese and 9 normal weight controls women underwent body composition analysis by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, a euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp, and an oral fat load with blood sampling at initial time (T0), 4 h (T4) and 10 h (T10) after the fat load. Serum lipids and HDL-parameters, capacities of serum to promote cholesterol efflux from SR-BI expressing Fu5AH hepatoma cells or from ABCA1-expressing J774 macrophages and to abilities of serum to induce a net removal of cholesterol from macrophage foam cells were measured at T0, T4 and T10. Sera from overweight/obese exhibited moderately decreased SR-BI-mediated cholesterol efflux capacities, in accordance with reduced HDL concentrations, but importantly increased ABCA1-mediated cholesterol efflux and increased cholesterol extraction capacities over the postprandial period, partly related to higher preβ-HDL concentrations. In multiple regression analyses, android obesity-related parameters and HDL-PL or preβ-HDL levels remained the only independent correlates for SR-BI or ABCA1-dependent fractional cholesterol efflux while only preβ-HDL levels remained correlated to cholesterol extraction capacities. Our results suggest that android overweight/obesity may not result in an impaired cholesterol efflux capacity.