Use of transgenic mice to study the role of apolipoprotein E in lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis

Insight into the role of apolipoprotein (apo) E in lipoprotein metabolism a nd atherosclerosis has increased dramatically with the generation and analy sis of novel transgenic, knockout and knockin mouse models. Moreover; the r ecent development and application of somatic gene and cell transfer technol ogies which can express (or delete) apoE in specific tissues of virtually a ny mouse model have further added to this,increase in knowledge. It is now well established that apoE plays a role in virtually every step in the meta bolism of very low-density lipoproteins and in the efflux of cholesterol fr om macrophages, in this review we will discuss recent insights into the rol e of apoE in these processes with particular emphasis on the specific effec ts of variation in apoE structure and quantity.