Laboratory of Allergic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.
Rheumatology Fellowship Program, National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.
Front Immunol. 2020 Oct 7;11:588776. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.588776. eCollection 2020.
T cells are indisputably critical mediators of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD), where they secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines that promote vascular pathology. Equally well-established is the fact that autoimmune diseases, which are mediated by autoreactive T cells, substantially increase the risk of developing CVD. Indeed, as immunomodulatory treatments have become more effective at treating end-organ pathology, CVD has become a leading cause of death in patients with autoimmune diseases. Despite this, investigators have only recently begun to probe the mechanisms by which autoreactive T cells promote CVD in the context of autoimmune diseases. T cells are best-studied in the pathogenesis of systemic vasculitides, where they react to self-antigen in the vessel wall. However, newer studies indicate that T cells also contribute to the increased CVD risk associated with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. Given the central role of T-cell-derived cytokines in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, the role of these factors in psoriatic CVD is also under investigation. In the future, T cells are likely to represent major targets for the prevention and treatment of CVD in patients with autoimmune diseases.
T 细胞无疑是动脉粥样硬化性心血管疾病（CVD）的关键介质，它们分泌促炎细胞因子，促进血管病理学。同样成立的事实是，自身免疫性疾病是由自身反应性 T 细胞介导的，大大增加了患 CVD 的风险。事实上，随着免疫调节治疗在治疗靶器官病理学方面变得更加有效，CVD 已成为自身免疫性疾病患者死亡的主要原因。尽管如此，研究人员最近才开始探讨自身反应性 T 细胞在自身免疫性疾病背景下促进 CVD 的机制。T 细胞在系统性血管炎的发病机制中研究得最多，在这种疾病中，它们对血管壁中的自身抗原产生反应。然而，新的研究表明，T 细胞也与狼疮和类风湿关节炎相关的 CVD 风险增加有关。鉴于细胞因子在银屑病发病机制中的核心作用，这些因素在银屑病性 CVD 中的作用也在研究中。在未来，T 细胞可能成为预防和治疗自身免疫性疾病患者 CVD 的主要靶点。
