Atherosclerosis is a complex, multifactorial disease. An early event in atherosclerosis is the development of macrophage foam cells. These are primarily formed through the uptake of modifi ed lipoproteins by macrophages within the artery wall ( 1-4 ). In late-stage atherosclerotic lesions, a large amount of both free cholesterol (FC) and cholesteryl ester (CE) accumulates in foam cell lysosomes. The presence of extensive amounts of CE suggests an interruption in the normal lysosomal hydrolysis of lipid particle-derived CE, while the accumulation of FC indicates an interruption in the normal removal of FC from lysosomes to other organelles, primarily the plasma membrane ( 5-7 ). Many studies indicate that lysosomal sequestration of cholesterol can have consequences for atherosclerotic lesion development (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). In addition to a direct effect of accumulating sterol on lysosome function, trapping of sterol in lysosomes can prevent removal of cholesterol by effl ux. In fact, the cholesterol and CE in lysosomes remains trapped in lysosomes, even when further uptake of lipoproteins is halted and acceptor concentrations in the media are increased to levels that effl ux most of the nonlysosomal CE stores ( 16 ). Thus, the sequestration of sterol within lysosomes prevents effl ux and limits the availability of cholesterol to other intracellular processes ( 16 ). Therefore, factors that infl uence the removal of lysosomally sequestered sterol could have profound effects on foam cell biology and atherosclerotic lesion development.Many studies have examined macrophage foam cell metabolism in the presence of various CE-containing particles ( 2-4 ). However, triglyceride-rich particles (TRPs), including VLDL, are also present within the atherosclerotic Abbreviations: aggLDL, aggregated low density lipoprotein; CE, cholesteryl ester; DISP, lipid dispersions; FC, free cholesterol; LAMP-1, lysosomal-associated membrane protein; TG, triglyceride; TRP, triglyceride-rich particle; TPA, phorbol ester.