Screening and identification of the upregulators of ATP-binding cassette transporter A1

ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) promotes cholesterol and phospholipid efflux from cells to lipid-poor apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), and plays a key role in the initial steps of the whole process of reverse cholesterol transport (RCT).  Upregulation of ABCA1 is beneficial for atherosclerosis (AS) prevention and/or therapy, which indicated that ABCA1 was a target for anti-AS drug development.  In the previous study, a high-throughput screening method was established using ABCA1p-LUC HepG2 cell line to find the upregulators of ABCA1.  In the present study, compound 2030421B was found using this method, with EC₅₀ of 0.50 µg·mL⁻¹.  The compound was further identified as an upregulator of ABCA1 expression by real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting analysis.  Studies also showed that the 2030421B could induce apoA-I-mediated cholesterol efflux and inhibit lipids uptake into mouse peritoneal macrophages RAW264.7.