More Evidence for the importance of cholesterol

MORE EVIDENCE FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF CHOLESTEROL

Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 1:34AM

At the end of last year, an international team of researchers published a study in the journal Nature Communications, to show that Cholesterol is involved in key cell signalling processes.

Each person has around 50 trillion cells. Around 30 to 40 percent of the membrane (or outer shell) of these cells is made up of cholesterol. We have known for a long time that cholesterol provides the structural rigidity that cells need in order to work properly. However, more evidence has been emerging during more recent years to show that cholesterol plays an important part in the intelligence of the cell.

Professor Wonhwa Cho and colleagues found that cholesterol interacts directly with proteins in the inside of the cell. These proteins play an important role in cell signalling. Professor Cho said that this provides an insight into the importance of cholesterol to well-functioning cells. 

References:

Sheng, R et al. Cholesterol modulates cell signaling and protein networking by specifically interacting with PDZ domain-containing scaffold proteins. Nature Communications, 3, Article number: 1249 Published 04 December 2012.