Overexpression of lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase in transgenic rabbits prevents diet-induced atherosclerosis

Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) is a key plasma enzyme in cholesterol and high density lipoprotein (HDL) metabolism. Transgenic rabbits overexpressing human LCAT had 15-fold greater plasma LCAT activity than nontransgenic control rabbits. This degree of overexpression was associated with a 6.7-fold increase in the plasma HDL cholesterol concentration in LCAT transgenic rabbits. On a 0.3% cholesterol diet, the HDL cholesterol concentrations increased from 24 +/- 1 to 39 +/- 3 mg/dl in nontransgenic control rabbits (n = 10; P 0.05) and increased from 161 +/- 5 to 200 +/- 21 mg/dl (P 0.001) in the LCAT transgenic rabbits (n