Formation of pregnenolone- and dehydroepiandrosterone-fatty acid esters by lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase in human plasma high density lipoproteins

Pregnenolone- (PREG-), and dehydroepiandrosterone- (DHEA-) fatty acid esters (FA) are present in human plasma, where they are associated with lipoproteins. Because plasma has the ability to form PREG-FA and DHEA-FA in vitro from their unconjugated steroid counterparts, we postulated that the LCAT enzyme might be responsible for their formation. Here we show that lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) has PREG and DHEA esterifying activities. First, VLDL, IDL, LDL, and HDL were isolated by the sequential ultracentrifugation micromethod from the plasma of fasting men and women and tested for their ability to form PREG-FA, DHEA-FA, and cholesteryl esters in vitro from their respective unconjugated counterparts. The results showed that the three steroids were esterified only in HDL subfractions. The rate of tritiated PREG esterification was clearly higher than that of tritiated cholesterol and DHEA, both in total plasma and isolated HDL, and no gender difference was observed. Second, human and guinea pig LCAT were purified and used in phosphatidylcholine-reconstituted vesicles containing human apoAI to show their ability to esterify tritiated cholesterol, PREG, and DHEA in the absence of unlabeled steroid. The amount of cholesteryl ester, PREG-FA, and DHFA-FA increased after incubation as a function of time and amount of purified LCAT, showing that PREG is preferentially acylated by LCAT compared to cholesterol and DHEA. The PREG and DHEA esterifying activities of LCAT were cofactor-dependent, as shown by the absence of acylation without apoAI. Finally, we determined by HPLC the fatty acid moiety of PREG-FA and DHEA-FA formed in human plasma and guinea pig and rat sera in vitro after incubation with unconjugated tritiated PREG and DHEA. We showed that the fatty acid moieties of newly formed tritiated PREG-FA and DHEA-FA were similar to that reported for cholesteryl esters in the plasma of the three species. We conclude that LCAT has a lecithin-steroid acyltransferase activity and that PREG is probably the preferential substrate of this enzyme. In addition, the fact that the differences in the fatty acid moieties of cholesteryl esters of human, guinea pig, and rat plasmas are also observed for PREG-FA and DHEA-FA suggests that the LCAT is the sole circulating enzyme that has PREG and DHEA esterifying activities.