This article is available online at http://www.jlr.org by coordinated homeostatic mechanisms, primarily involving the regulated proteolysis of the sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-2 transcription factor in the Golgi ( 1 ). When ER sterols are abundant, SREBP-2 is retained in the ER in a complex with the cholesterol-sensing protein, SREBP cleavage-activating protein (SCAP), and the ER retention proteins, Insig-1 or -2 ( 2, 3 ). When cholesterol content in the ER is depleted, SCAP undergoes a conformational change and is released from Insig, allowing the SREBP-SCAP complex to translocate to the Golgi apparatus ( 4, 5 ) where it undergoes proteolytic maturation with release of the SREBP transcription factor ( 6 ).Cholesterol homeostasis is regulated not only by cholesterol, but also by oxygenated cholesterol species, referred to as oxysterols ( 1, 7-9 ) Side-chain oxysterols, such as 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HC), are generated enzymatically and act as important regulators of cholesterol homeostasis, despite their presence in cells being only at 0.1% the concentration of cholesterol ( 9 ). At the transcriptional level, 25-HC can bind the liver X receptors (LXRs) to active LXR-mediated transcription that results in increased cholesterol effl ux and elimination ( 10, 11 ). 25-HC also inhibits SREBP maturation and subsequent transcription of genes involved in cholesterol biosynthesis and uptake ( 1 ). In contrast to cholesterol, which directly interacts with SCAP, 25-HC enhances the interaction between SCAP and Insig proteins, resulting in retention of the SREBP-2-SCAP complex in the ER ( 12, 13 ).