Oxysterols have long been believed to be ligands of nuclear receptors such as liver × receptor (LXR), and they play an important role in lipid homeostasis and in the immune system, where they are involved in both transcriptional and posttranscriptional mechanisms. However, they are increasingly associated with a wide variety of other, sometimes surprising, cell functions. Oxysterols have also been implicated in several diseases such as metabolic syndrome. Oxysterols can be sulfated, and the sulfated oxysterols act in different directions: they decrease lipid biosynthesis, suppress inflammatory responses, and promote cell survival. Our recent reports have shown that oxysterol and oxysterol sulfates are paired epigenetic regulators, agonists, and antagonists of DNA methyltransferases, indicating that their function of global regulation is through epigenetic modification. In this review, we explore our latest research of 25-hydroxycholesterol and 25-hydroxycholesterol 3-sulfate in a novel regulatory mechanism and evaluate the current evidence for these roles.

中文翻译：

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胆固醇代谢物25-羟基胆固醇和3-硫酸25-羟基胆固醇是有效的配对调节剂：从发现到临床应用

长期以来，人们一直认为氧固醇是核受体的配体，例如肝×受体（LXR），它们在脂质稳态和免疫系统中均起重要作用，它们参与转录和转录后机制。但是，它们与各种各样的其他细胞功能（有时令人惊讶）之间的联系越来越紧密。氧固醇也与多种疾病如代谢综合征有关。氧固醇可以被硫酸化，而硫酸化的氧固醇在不同的方向上起作用：它们减少脂质的生物合成，抑制炎症反应，并促进细胞存活。我们最近的报道表明，氧固醇和硫酸氧固醇是成对的表观遗传调节剂，激动剂和DNA甲基转移酶的拮抗剂，表明它们的整体调控功能是通过表观遗传修饰。在这篇综述中，我们探索了我们在新型调节机制中对25-羟基胆固醇和25-羟基胆固醇3-硫酸盐的最新研究，并评估了这些作用的当前证据。