Atherosclerosis is a dyslipidemia disease characterized by foam cell formation driven by the accumulation of lipids. Visceral adipose tissue-derived serine protease inhibitor (vaspin) is known to suppress the development of atherosclerosis via its anti-inflammatory properties, but it is not yet known whether vaspin affects cholesterol efflux in THP-1 macrophage-derived foam cells. Here, we investigated the effects of vaspin on ABCA1 expression and cholesterol efflux, and further explored the underlying mechanism. We found that vaspin decreased miR-33a levels, which in turn increased ABCA1 expression and cholesteorl efflux. We also found that inhibition of NF-kappa B reduced miR-33a expression and vaspin suppressed LPS-mediated NF-kappa B phosphorylation. Our findings suggest that vaspin is not only a regular of inflammasion but also a promoter of cholesterol efflux. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.