Hydrolysis of intracellular cholesteryl esters (CEs) represents the first step in the removal of
cholesterol from lipid-laden foam cells associated with atherosclerotic lesions. Neutral
cholesteryl ester hydrolase (CEH) catalyzes this reaction, and we recently cloned the cDNA
for the human macrophage CEH and demonstrated increased mobilization of intracellular
CE droplets by CEH overexpression. The present study was undertaken to test the
hypothesis that for CE hydrolysis, CEH must become associated with the surface of the …