The liver X receptor-a (LXR-a) is a nuclear receptor expressed in the liver, spleen, kidney, adipose tissue, small intestine, and macrophages. Once activated by cholesterol-derived oxysterols, it regulates several processes of lipoprotein-lipid metabolism. In this investigation, Legry et al. hypothesized that common variants in LXR-a might be associated with metabolic syndrome susceptibility. In two French study samples, 664 individuals with and 1,626 individuals without the metabolic syndrome were genotyped for three polymorphisms of LXR-a. The -6A allele of the rs11039155 polymorphism was consistently associated with a 30% reduction in metabolic syndrome risk in both studies. This association is thought to be mediated by the higher plasma HDL cholesterol in individuals with this polymorphism. The authors suggested that further study is required in other populations to confirm these findings.
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