Although a range of studies indicated Liver X receptor (LXR) activation inhibited the development of atherosclerosis in animal models, the mechanism of this effect for LXR agonists has not been fully understood. A recent study has suggested LXR activators increased the amount of free cholesterol in the plasma membrane of human macrophages by inducing Niemann-Pick type C1 (NPC1) gene expression. Therefore, we hypothesize that LXRs may also promote NPC1 expression in vivo. Here we investigated the effect of a synthetic LXR agonist T0901317 on ATP...
