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(Circulation. 2002;106:1599.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Vaccination Against Atherosclerosis

Science or Fiction?

Göran K. Hansson, MD, PhD

From the Department of Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.

Correspondence to Göran K. Hansson, MD, PhD, Karolinska Hospital, Center for Molecular Medicine L8:03, SE-171 76, Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail Goran.Hansson@cmm.ki.se

Key Words: Editorials • atherosclerosis • antigens • immunology

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Atherosclerosis bears many similarities to inflammatory/autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis (MS).^1,2 Compelling data from experimental models show that such diseases may be treated by vaccination. Will it be possible to attack atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with the same approach? Several studies have shown positive effects of immunization with antigenic LDL preparations,^3–6 and a report in this issue of Circulation demonstrates a protective effect of oral and nasal immunization with another antigen, heat shock protein 65 (HSP65).⁷

See p 1708

Atherosclerosis is a complex disease that involves several different cell types and their molecular products. The immune system is even more complicated, with many cell types, hundreds of cytokines, and literally millions of different antigens. The work has just begun to sort out the ones involved in atherosclerosis among this myriad of molecules and cells. Two gene-targeted murine models of atherosclerosis, the apolipoprotein E–knockout and the LDL-receptor knockout mice, have proved to be useful for these investigations.

Several lines of evidence point to the CD4+ T cell as a "bad guy" in atherogenesis. If these cells are transferred from immunocompetent to immune deficient apolipoprotein E–knockout mice, disease increases drastically.⁸ The CD4+ cell is also the most prevalent T cell in the human atherosclerotic lesion, and exhibits reactivity to putative "athero-antigens."²

CD4+ T cells can be divided into at least 2 different subsets that counterbalance each other.⁹ The most prevalent type of CD4+ T cells is called Th1; it induces macrophage activation and promotes inflammation. Th1 cells accomplish this largely . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Mucosal Administration of Heat Shock Protein-65 Decreases Atherosclerosis and Inflammation in Aortic Arch of Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor-Deficient Mice

Ruth Maron, Galina Sukhova, Ana-Maria Faria, Ethan Hoffmann, Francois Mach, Peter Libby, and Howard L. Weiner
Circulation 2002 106: 1708-1715. [Abstract] [Full Text]

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