Atherosclerosis, the main underlying condition of acute cardiovascular events, has traditionally been regarded and treated as a disease caused by perturbed lipid homeostasis. Clinical trials in the last decade, however, have highlighted the critical role of chronic inflammation on disease outcomes. The adaptive immune system plays in critical role propagation of inflammation and may allow new, more specific, intervention strategies for atherosclerosis. The advent of new immunological techniques such as single-cell RNA sequencing, spectral flow cytometry, and masscytometry has greatly expanded our insights into adaptive immune systems' inflammatory and regulatory processes that control atherosclerosis development. With the subsequent detection of autoreactive antibodies and T-cells specific to cardiovascular patients, we now face the realization that atherosclerosis shares major commonalities with autoimmune diseases and could be treated as such. This greatly expands the therapeutic horizons for this disease.
Recent studies have shown that atherosclerosis is accompanied by a loss of tolerance. This discovery has become possible through new technologies for paired TCRa and TCRß sequencing using single-cell RNA-sequencing technology, thus defining clonotypes. This allows the determination of clonality, finding expanded clones, and understanding their phenotype. Modern tools to classify TCR sequences help make sense of the clonal expansions observed in atherosclerosis.
B cell work has resulted in the identification of candidate antigens and pro- and anti-atherogenic B cell subsets. Like T cells, B cells show enormous diversity. B1 cells are thought to be athero-protective and most B2 cells are thought to be pro-atherogenic. In clinical studies, IgM antibodies to atherosclerosis antigens correlate with better outcomes, and IgG antibodies with worse outcomes.
In this Topic, we welcome the submission of Original Research, Review, Mini Review or Perspective articles, with a focus on any of these areas:
• T cells in atherosclerosis
• B cells in atherosclerosis
• Antibodies in atherosclerosis
• High-dimensional analysis of the adaptive immune system in atherosclerosis by scRNA-Seq and CyTOF
• Dissection of immune cell heterogeneity with multi-omics data
• Vaccination approaches
• Immunomodulation by cytokines
• Adaptive immune cells in clinical cohorts with cardiovascular diseases
Atherosclerosis, the main underlying condition of acute cardiovascular events, has traditionally been regarded and treated as a disease caused by perturbed lipid homeostasis. Clinical trials in the last decade, however, have highlighted the critical role of chronic inflammation on disease outcomes. The adaptive immune system plays in critical role propagation of inflammation and may allow new, more specific, intervention strategies for atherosclerosis. The advent of new immunological techniques such as single-cell RNA sequencing, spectral flow cytometry, and masscytometry has greatly expanded our insights into adaptive immune systems' inflammatory and regulatory processes that control atherosclerosis development. With the subsequent detection of autoreactive antibodies and T-cells specific to cardiovascular patients, we now face the realization that atherosclerosis shares major commonalities with autoimmune diseases and could be treated as such. This greatly expands the therapeutic horizons for this disease.
Recent studies have shown that atherosclerosis is accompanied by a loss of tolerance. This discovery has become possible through new technologies for paired TCRa and TCRß sequencing using single-cell RNA-sequencing technology, thus defining clonotypes. This allows the determination of clonality, finding expanded clones, and understanding their phenotype. Modern tools to classify TCR sequences help make sense of the clonal expansions observed in atherosclerosis.
B cell work has resulted in the identification of candidate antigens and pro- and anti-atherogenic B cell subsets. Like T cells, B cells show enormous diversity. B1 cells are thought to be athero-protective and most B2 cells are thought to be pro-atherogenic. In clinical studies, IgM antibodies to atherosclerosis antigens correlate with better outcomes, and IgG antibodies with worse outcomes.
In this Topic, we welcome the submission of Original Research, Review, Mini Review or Perspective articles, with a focus on any of these areas:
• T cells in atherosclerosis
• B cells in atherosclerosis
• Antibodies in atherosclerosis
• High-dimensional analysis of the adaptive immune system in atherosclerosis by scRNA-Seq and CyTOF
• Dissection of immune cell heterogeneity with multi-omics data
• Vaccination approaches
• Immunomodulation by cytokines
• Adaptive immune cells in clinical cohorts with cardiovascular diseases
