Skip Navigation



Cardiovascular Research Advance Access [Accepted Manuscript] published online on June 5, 2009
Cardiovascular Research, doi:10.1093/cvr/cvp182
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
84/1/155    most recent
cvp182v2
cvp182v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Feng, J.
Right arrow Articles by Wang, X.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Feng, J.
Right arrow Articles by Wang, X.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2009. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Regulatory T cells ameliorate hyperhomocysteinemia-accelerated atherosclerosis in apoE-/- mice

Juan Feng, Zhenmin Zhang, Wei Kong, Bo Liu, Qingbo Xua and Xian Wang*

Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Peking University, Key Laboratory of Molecular Cardiovascular Science, Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Science, Peking University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China. Tele (Fax): +86 10 82801443, Email address: xwang{at}bjmu.edu.cn

Aims: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease with T cell-driven immunoinflammatory responses contributing to disease initiation and progression. We investigated the potential role of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy)-accelerated atherosclerosis in apoE-/- mice.

Methods and results: ApoE-/- mice were fed normal mouse chow supplemented with or without a high level of homocysteine (Hcy) (1.8 g/L) in drinking water for 2, 4 and 6 weeks. Atherosclerotic lesion area was slightly increased at 2 weeks and substantially elevated at 4 and 6 weeks in HHcy apoE-/- mice. Cotransfer of normal Tregs significantly attenuated atherosclerotic lesion size and infiltration of T cells and macrophages into plaque. Furthermore, Treg cotransfer reversed HHcy-accelerated proliferation of T cells, -increased pro-inflammatory and -decreased anti-inflammatory cytokine secretion from activated splenic T cells. With a clinically relevant level of plasma Hcy, the proportion of Tregs and suppressive activity in splenic T cells were reduced in HHcy apoE-/- mice, which was associated with reduced mRNA and protein expression of Foxp3, a factor governing mouse Treg development and function. In addition, Hcy significantly attenuated the proportion and suppressive effects of Tregs in vitro.

Conclusions: HHcy suppresses the function of Tregs, which may be responsible for HHcy-accelerated atherosclerosis in apoE-/- mice

Time for primary review: 26 Days

a Cardiovascular Division, Kings College London BHF Centre, London SE5 9NU, UK


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.