ZAP70 deficiency promotes reverse cholesterol transport through MAPK/ERK pathway in Jurkat cell.

•We found ZAP70-deficiency reduced mRNA expression and secretion of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-2 and IL-6.•ZAP70-deficiency improved cholesterol efflux capacity and increased expression of ABCA1, ABCG1 and SR-BI.•Phosphorylation of ERK, JNK and p38 MAPK were inhibited due to lack of ZAP70.•Only the ERK inhibitor was observed to improved cholesterol efflux capacity and increased expression of ABCA1, ABCG1 and SR-BI. Inhibiting JNK or p38 MAPK didn’t affect cholesterol efflux capacity or RCT regulatory proteins.•Inhibiting ERK increased the interaction between LXR protein and the LXRE which promoted ABCG1 expression without increasing the amount of LXR-α.