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Innate and acquired immunity in atherogenesis

Nature Medicine volume 8, pages 1218–1226 (2002)Cite this article

Traditional risk factors like hypercholesterolemia are important for atherogenesis, but it is now apparent that the immune system also plays an important role. Uncovering the mechanisms by which specific components of the immune system impact atherogenesis will not only provide new insights into the pathogenesis of lesion formation, but could also lead to novel therapeutic approaches that involve immune modulation.

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Figure 1: Relationship of CRP to HDL cholesterol concentrations, demonstrating that CRP is an independent risk factor for CVD (from ref. 8).
Figure 2: Fatty streaks of human coronary arteries and aortae from animal models of atherosclerosis immunostained for macrophages (top), oxidation-specific epitopes (middle) or T cells (bottom).
Figure 3: Molecular mimicry between epitopes of oxLDL, apoptotic cells and the PC of the C-PS of pathogens.

D. Maizels

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  1. Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

    Christoph J. Binder, Mi-Kyung Chang, Peter X. Shaw, Yury I. Miller, Karsten Hartvigsen, Asheesh Dewan & Joseph L. Witztum

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Binder, C., Chang, MK., Shaw, P. et al. Innate and acquired immunity in atherogenesis. Nat Med 8, 1218–1226 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1102-1218

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