Plasma and fibroblasts of Tangier disease patients are disturbed in transferring phospholipids onto apolipoprotein A-I

Plasmas of patients with Tangier disease (TD) lack lipid-rich α-HDL which, in normal plasma, constitutes the majority of high density lipoprotein (HDL). Residual amounts of apolipoprotein (apo)A-I in TD plasma occur as lipid-poor or even lipid-free preβ-HDL. By contrast to normal plasma, TD plasma does not convert preβ-HDL into α-HDL. Moreover, fibroblasts of TD patients were found to be defective in secreting cholesterol or phospholipids in the presence of lipid-free apoA-I. We have therefore hypothesized that both defective conversion of preβ-HDL into α-HDL and defective lipid efflux from TD cells onto lipid-free apoA-I result from a disturbance in phospholipid transfer occurring in both …