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- Mohanta, S. K., et al.
(författare)
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Neuroimmune cardiovascular interfaces control atherosclerosis
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 605, s. 152-159
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atherosclerotic plaques develop in the inner intimal layer of arteries and can cause heart attacks and strokes(1). As plaques lack innervation, the effects of neuronal control on atherosclerosis remain unclear. However, the immune system respondsto plaques by forming leukocyte infiltrates in the outer connective tissue coat of arteries (the adventitia)(2-6). Here, because the peripheral nervous system uses the adventitia as its principal conduit to reach distant targets(7-9), we postulated that the peripheral nervous system may directly interact with diseased arteries. Unexpectedly, widespread neuroimmune cardiovascular interfaces (NICIs) arose in mouse and human atherosclerosis-diseased adventitia segments showed expanded axon networks, includinggrowth cones at axon endings near immune cells and media smooth muscle cells. Mouse NICIs established a structural artery-brain circuit (ABC): abdominal adventitia nociceptive afferents(10-14) entered the central nervous system through spinal cord T-6-T-13 dorsal root ganglia and were traced to higher brain regions, including the parabrachial and central amygdala neurons; and sympathetic efferent neurons projected from medullary and hypothalamic neuronsto the adventitia through spinal intermediolateral neurons and both coeliac and sympathetic chain ganglia. Moreover, ABC peripheral nervous system components were activated: splenic sympathetic and coeliac vagus nerve activities increased in parallel to disease progression, whereas coeliacganglionectomy led to the disintegration of adventitial NICIs, reduced disease progression and enhanced plaque stability. Thus, the peripheral nervous system uses NICIs to assemble a structural ABC, and therapeutic intervention in the ABC attenuates atherosclerosis.
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| 2. |
- Gencer, S, et al.
(författare)
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Endothelial ACKR3 drives atherosclerosis by promoting immune cell adhesion to vascular endothelium
- 2022
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Ingår i: Basic research in cardiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1435-1803 .- 0300-8428. ; 117:1, s. 30-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atherosclerosis is the foundation of potentially fatal cardiovascular diseases and it is characterized by plaque formation in large arteries. Current treatments aimed at reducing atherosclerotic risk factors still allow room for a large residual risk; therefore, novel therapeutic candidates targeting inflammation are needed. The endothelium is the starting point of vascular inflammation underlying atherosclerosis and we could previously demonstrate that the chemokine axis CXCL12–CXCR4 plays an important role in disease development. However, the role of ACKR3, the alternative and higher affinity receptor for CXCL12 remained to be elucidated. We studied the role of arterial ACKR3 in atherosclerosis using western diet-fed Apoe−/− mice lacking Ackr3 in arterial endothelial as well as smooth muscle cells. We show for the first time that arterial endothelial deficiency of ACKR3 attenuates atherosclerosis as a result of diminished arterial adhesion as well as invasion of immune cells. ACKR3 silencing in inflamed human coronary artery endothelial cells decreased adhesion molecule expression, establishing an initial human validation of ACKR3’s role in endothelial adhesion. Concomitantly, ACKR3 silencing downregulated key mediators in the MAPK pathway, such as ERK1/2, as well as the phosphorylation of the NF-kB p65 subunit. Endothelial cells in atherosclerotic lesions also revealed decreased phospho-NF-kB p65 expression in ACKR3-deficient mice. Lack of smooth muscle cell-specific as well as hematopoietic ACKR3 did not impact atherosclerosis in mice. Collectively, our findings indicate that arterial endothelial ACKR3 fuels atherosclerosis by mediating endothelium-immune cell adhesion, most likely through inflammatory MAPK and NF-kB pathways.
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