such as the liver, the small intestine and adipose tissue. Factors that act upon the ABCA1 transporter's expression or its posttranslational modification are also molecules that are involved in its subsequent function like fatty acids, cholesterol and also cytokines and cAMP. Adiponectin induces reverse cholesterol transport by an ABCA1-dependent pathway. Other endogenous metabolites more loosely related to the ABCA1 functions are also reported to influence the expression of this transporter, including glucose and bilirubin. Interactions between members of the apoliprotein family and ABCA1 activate multiple signalling pathways, including the JAK-STAT, PKA, and PKC pathways Overexpression of ABCA1 has been reported to induce resistance to the anti-inflammatory diarylheptanoid antioxidant curcumin. Downregulation of ABCA1 in senescent macrophages disrupts the cell's ability to remove cholesterol from its cytoplasm, leading the cells to promote pathologic atherogenesis (blood vessel thickening/hardening) which "plays a central role in common age-associated diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer, and macular degeneration" Knockout mouse models of AMD treated with agonists that increase ABCA1 in loss of function and gain of function experiments demonstrated the protective role of elevating ABCA1 in regulating angiogenesis in eye disease. Human data from patients and controls were used to demonstrate the translation of mouse findings in human disease. Clinical significance Mutations in this gene have been associated with Tangier disease and familial high-density lipoprotein deficiency. ABCA1 has been shown to be reduced in Tangier disease which features physiological deficiencies of HDL. Leukocytes ABCA1 gene expression is upregulated in postmenopausal women receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRP). ABCA1 expression is also upregulated in tumor-associated astroctytes surrounding glioblastoma brain tumors, and is important to the tumor progression. Interactive pathway map Interactions ABCA1 has been shown to interact with: APOA1, APOE, FADD, SNTB2, and XPC. See also ATP-binding cassette transporter References Further reading External links ATP-binding cassette transporters