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The structure of bad cholesterol comes into focus

Insights into how cholesterol-carrying low-density lipoproteins are structured, and how they interact with receptors to enter cells, could help to clarify the role of these particles in cardiovascular disease.
  1. W. Sean Davidson

    1. W. Sean Davidson is in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45237, USA.

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Dubbed ‘bad cholesterol’, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles are spheres of fat and protein that carry cholesterol and circulate in the bloodstream. Writing in Nature, Berndsen and Cassidy1 and Reimund et al.2 describe the structures of a key component of LDL and its receptor, which have eluded scientists for decades.

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Nature 638, 618-620 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-04210-7

References

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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