MacRae F. Linton, MD

Dr. Linton is Director of the Vanderbilt Lipid Clinic in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and the Atherosclerosis Research Unit. His research programs involve basic science and clinical translational investigations of inherited disorders of lipoprotein metabolism, macrophage biology, and atherosclerosis. Dr. Linton’s early research focused on mutations in the APOB gene that cause inherited low levels of cholesterol. Dr. Linton pioneered the use of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) as an approach to investigate the impact of genes expressed by bone marrow-derived cells, including macrophages, on the development of atherosclerosis in murine models. A major focus of the laboratory is the role of macrophage cholesterol efflux, the first step in reverse cholesterol transport, in atherogenesis. We have a long-standing interest in the roles of apoE, apoA-I, SR-BI, and LRP in lipoprotein metabolism, macrophage cholesterol homeostasis and HDL function. The mechanism of formation of dysfunctional HDL in familial hypercholesterolemia is a focus of our current Program Project Grant on HDL Function in Human Disease. Dr. Linton has recently discovered a critical role for macrophage expression of SR-BI in autophagy in the setting of atherosclerosis.