Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
Innovation Department, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Hellerup, Denmark.
Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 1;10(1):14362. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-71110-x.
Macrophages are a functionally heterogeneous group of immune cells abundant in atherosclerotic plaques. Macrophages expressing CD163 are associated with intraplaque hemorrhage and have previously been considered atheroprotective. However, in a recent study CD163-deficient atherosclerotic ApoE mice exhibited smaller and less complex plaques, suggesting a proatherogenic role of CD163. Previous smaller studies on CD163+ macrophages and plaque stability in humans have yielded diverging results. Here we assessed the association of CD163+ cells to plaque vulnerability in a large cohort of human carotid plaques. CD163 protein expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 200 human carotid plaques removed by endarterectomy from 103 patients with and 93 patients without cerebrovascular symptoms. Furthermore, CD163 mRNA expression was analyzed in 66 of the plaques. Both protein and mRNA expression of CD163 was higher in plaques from symptomatic patients and in plaques with high vulnerability index. CD163+ macrophages were primarily found in shoulder regions and in the center of the plaques. The present data show that CD163 is associated with increased plaque vulnerability in human carotid plaques, supporting the notion that CD163+ macrophages could contribute to clinical events.
巨噬细胞是一组功能异质性的免疫细胞，在动脉粥样硬化斑块中丰富存在。表达 CD163 的巨噬细胞与斑块内出血有关，先前被认为具有抗动脉粥样硬化作用。然而，在最近的一项研究中，CD163 缺陷型动脉粥样硬化 ApoE 小鼠表现出更小、更简单的斑块，表明 CD163 具有促动脉粥样硬化作用。先前关于 CD163+巨噬细胞和斑块稳定性的较小研究得出了不同的结果。在这里，我们在一个大型人类颈动脉斑块队列中评估了 CD163+细胞与斑块脆弱性的相关性。通过免疫组织化学分析了 200 个人类颈动脉斑块中的 CD163 蛋白表达，这些斑块是从 103 例有和 93 例无脑血管症状的患者中通过颈动脉内膜切除术切除的。此外，还分析了 66 个斑块中的 CD163 mRNA 表达。有症状患者的斑块和易损性指数高的斑块中 CD163 蛋白和 mRNA 的表达均较高。CD163+巨噬细胞主要存在于斑块的肩部和中心区域。本研究数据表明，CD163 与人类颈动脉斑块中增加的斑块易损性相关，支持 CD163+巨噬细胞可能导致临床事件的观点。
