Big discovery in the control of bad cholesterol

A recent study conducted by the team of Dr. Nabil G. Seidah, Director of the Biochemical Neuroendocrinology Research Unit at the IRCM, shows for the very first time that the degradation by PCSK9 of the LDLR receptor, which is responsible for removing the bad cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol) from the bloodstream, may be inhibited by a third protein, annexin A2.

This important discovery co-authored by Gaétan Mayer, a postdoctoral fellow, Steve Poirier, a doctoral student, and Dr. Seidah was published on November 14 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry ( JBC ).