Figure 5. HIF-1α plays a direct role in macrophage sterol metabolism A-C.
J774 cells were transfected to stably express HIF-1α shRNA or scrambled shRNA (“Control”) and were incubated under hypoxic conditions (1% O2). Shown are the resulting levels of the indicated mRNA species; D, J774 cells were stably transfected either with control plasmid (pBabe-puro), scrambled shRNA (“Control”), HIF-1α shRNA (“HIF Knockdown”) or a HIF-1α expression plasmid (“HIF-1α”), and desmosterol+cholesterol (“Total Sterol”) cellular content measured after incubation in normoxic (left) and hypoxic (right) conditions for 24 h; E, J774 cells were treated as in panel D, but now cholesterol efflux to apoAI, which is the acceptor for ABCA-1, was measured. Experiments were done twice in duplicate (A-C) or quadruplicates (D and E) and statistical significance is indicated by * for p<0.05, **p<0.01. The data with plasmid (pBabe-puro), and scrambled shRNA samples were essentially the same and were combined as one control group.