Regulation of HMG-CoA Reductase mRNA Stability by 25-hydroxycholesterol

HMG-CoA reductase is th rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol biosynthesis. As intracellular levels of cholesterol should be regulated elaborately in response to external stimuli an internal needs, the expression of the HMG-CoA reductase gene is regulated intricately at several different levels from transcription to post-translational modification. In this study, we investigated the regulatory mechanism of HMG-CoA reductase gene expression at the post-transcriptional/pre-translational levels in a baby hamster kidney cell line, C100. when 25-hydroxycholesterol was added to cells cultured in medium containing 5% delipidized fetal bovine serum and 25$\mu$M lovastatin, the levels of HMG-CoA reductase mRNA decreased rapidly, which seemed to be due to the increased degradation of reductase mRNA. These suppressive effects of 25-hydroxycholesterol on MG-CoA reductase mRNA levels were blocked by a translation inhibitor, cycloheximide. Similarly, actinomycin D and 5,6-dichloro-1-$\beta$-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole, transcription inhibitors, blocked the 25-hydroxycholesterol-mediated degradation of HMG-CoA reductase mRNA. These results indicate that new protein/RNA synthesis is required for the degradation of HMG-CoA reductase mRNA. In addition, data from the transfection experiments shows that cis-acting determinants, regulating the stability of reductase mRNA, were scattered in the sequence corresponding to 1766-4313 based on the sequence of Syrian hamster HMG-CoA reductase cDNA. Our data suggests that sterol-mediated destabilization of reductase mRNA might be one of the important regulatory mechanism of HMG-CoA reductase gene expression.