载脂蛋白M(apoM)是新近发现的一种载脂蛋白，属于Lipocalin蛋白质超家族成员，能促进Preβ-HDL的生成，对apoM在血浆脂蛋白中分布的研究发现，绝大部分apoM分布在HDL中。本课题组前期工作和其他学者的实验提示炎症可以下调apoM的表达，但炎症对apoM的表达和功能的影响尚不完全清楚，炎症是否通过一些代谢性核受体影响apoM的表达和功能还不明确，炎症是否通影响apoM的表达从而调节HDL的表达和功能还未见报道。因此，我们首次提出炎症可能通过代谢性核受体调节apoM的表达，进而影响HDL的表达和功能的科学假说。拟通过增强或抑制代谢性核受体的表达，观察炎症对apoM表达和功能的影响，通过增强或抑制apoM的表达，观察炎症对HDL表达和功能的影响，为深入阐述apoM在HDL表达和功能中的重要作用拓展新思路，为确立HDL作为调控炎症反应和防治As的靶点提供新的科学依据。

Apolipoprotein M (apoM), discovered relatively recently, is a novel plasma apolipoprotein belonging to the lipocalin protein superfamily. It can promote pre-β-HDL (high density lipoprotein) formation and is predominantly associated with HDL according to analysis of plasma lipoprotein components. Our group and others have observed that the expression of apoM can be downregulated by inflammation. However, the effects of inflammation on expression and function of apoM has not been fully explored. In addition, it is unclear that whether the expression and function of apoM can be affected by inflammation through regulating expression of some metabolic nuclear receptors. Moreover, there is no previous report that whether the expression and function of HDL can be influenced by inflammation through regulating expression of apoM. Thus, we suppose that inflammation may first affect expression and function of apoM by regulating expression of metabolic nuclear receptors and then influence the expression and function of HDL. In this project, we aim to explore the effects of inflammation on expression and function of apoM by enhancing or inhibiting expression of metabolic nuclear receptors, and to observe the effects of inflammation on expression and function of HDL by increasing or decreasing expression of apoM. Therefore, our study may be useful in understanding the critical effects of apoM in expression and function of HDL and provide new scientific evidence to establish HDL as a target for regulation of inflammation and prevention of atherosclerosis.