Oxidative modification of LDL: comparison between cell-mediated and copper-mediated modification

Macrophage-derived foam cells are hallmarks of early atherosclerotic lesions. Oxidatively modified LDL has been suggested to be a more atherogenic form than native LDL. Oxidized LDL--but not native LDL--is chemotactic to monocytes and is avidly degraded by macrophages, resulting in their conversion to foam cells. Incubation of LDL with any of several different types of cells, or with copper ion even in the absence of cells, results in the oxidative modification of LDL. While the cell and the copper systems generate oxidatively modified LDL with similar properties, the two systems differ in their sensitivity to inhibition by superoxide dismutase and by several lipoxygenase inhibitors. In cultured endothelial cells, inhibitors of lipoxygenase, some of them without non-specific antioxidant activity, inhibited cell-mediated modification by 50-80%. In contrast, superoxide dismutase inhibited the process by 20% or less. Moreover, we have shown that soybean lipoxygenase in a cell-free system can modify LDL directly to a form recognized and degraded specifically and rapidly by macrophages. Lipoxygenase-modified LDL is also chemotactic for human monocytes and is cleared rapidly from the circulation, properties shared by cell- or copper-modified LDL. Thus, it is suggested that cellular lipoxygenase(s) may play an important role in cell-mediated oxidative modification of LDL.