Department of Pathology, CARIM, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Department of Pathology, CARIM, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Eur J Pharmacol. 2017 Dec 5;816:14-24. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2017.10.005. Epub 2017 Oct 5.
Macrophages are key players in atherosclerotic lesions, regulating the local inflammatory milieu and plaque stability by the secretion of many inflammatory molecules, growth factors and cytokines. Monocytes have long been considered to be the main source of plaque macrophages. However, recent findings provide evidence for proliferation of local macrophages or transdifferentiation from other vascular cells as alternative sources. Recent years of research focused on the further identification and characterisation of macrophage phenotypes and functions. In this review we describe the advances in our understanding of monocyte and macrophage heterogeneity and its implications for specific therapeutic interventions, aiming to reduce the ever growing significant risk of cardiovascular events without any detrimental side effects on the patient's immune response.
巨噬细胞是动脉粥样硬化病变中的关键角色，通过分泌许多炎症分子、生长因子和细胞因子来调节局部炎症环境和斑块稳定性。单核细胞长期以来一直被认为是斑块巨噬细胞的主要来源。然而，最近的发现为局部巨噬细胞的增殖或其他血管细胞的转分化提供了替代来源的证据。近年来的研究集中在进一步鉴定和描述巨噬细胞表型和功能上。在这篇综述中，我们描述了对单核细胞和巨噬细胞异质性的认识的进展，及其对特定治疗干预的意义，旨在降低不断增加的心血管事件风险，而不对患者的免疫反应产生任何不利影响。
