We have previously shown that hepatic lipase (HL) is inactive when bound to purified heparan sulfate proteoglycans and can be liberated by HDL and apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), but not by LDL or VLDL. In this study, we show that HDL is also able to displace HL directly from the surface of the hepatoma cell line, HepG2, and Chinese hamster ovary cells stably overexpressing human HL. ApoA-I is more efficient at displacing cell surface HL than is HDL, and different HDL classes vary in their ability to displace HL from the cell surface. Human hepatic lipase (HL) is a 64 kDa glycoprotein anchored by heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) to the surface of endothelial cells and hepatocytes (1). HL functions both as a cell surface ligand for lipoprotein uptake and as a lipolytic enzyme that mediates the clearance of triacylglycerol from the blood stream and the conversion of VLDL to LDL (2-9). It has been known for over five decades that displacement of lipolytic enzymes from cell surface binding sites with heparin results in rapid hydrolysis of triacylglycerol-rich lipoproteins in lipemic serum (10, 11). However, it is still commonly believed that both HL and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) are catalytically active when bound to cell surface proteoglycans and that this association may indeed enhance the lipolysis of triacylglycerol [as reviewed in ref. (12)].This common view is in fact counterintuitive to the interfacial catalytic models proposed for lipases, which have shown a clear requirement for enzyme hopping or shuttling between substrates for optimal hydrolysis (13,14). In agreement with this view, we showed that HL is active only when it is free in solution, and indeed is completely inactive when bound to pure HSPG (15). In addition, we showed that HL could be displaced from a pure HSPG matrix by HDL, and specifically by apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), but not by LDL or VLDL. In the present study, we have reevaluated this displacement phenomenon in HepG2 cells and in a Chinese hamster ovary cell line stably overexpressing human HL (CHO-hHL). As with our pure HSPG studies, we show that only apoA-I and HDL are able to displace cell surface HL. We further show that different HDL classes vary in their ability to displace HL, and demonstrate that the lowest density fractions (HDL 2 ) have the greatest capacity to remove HL from the cell surface and intracellular compartments.In addition to their ability to displace cell surface HL, we have previously reported that apoA-I and HDL directly affect HL-mediated triacylglycerol hydrolysis, and showed that the rate of triacylglycerol hydrolysis is regulated by the amount of HDL in plasma (15). This observation sugAbbreviations: CHO-hHL, Chinese hamster ovary cell line stably overexpressing human hepatic lipase; ECM, extracellular matrix; EMEM, Eagle's minimal essential medium; FAF-BSA, essentially fatty acid-free BSA; HL, hepatic lipase; HRP, horseradish peroxidase; HSPG, heparan sulfate proteoglycan; [ 3 H]TG, [ 3 H]triolein; MAb, monoclonal antibody; pen/strep, penicillin/...