Department of Cardiology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University Changsha, Hunan, China.
Institute of Hypertension, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Artif Cells Nanomed Biotechnol. 2021 Dec;49(1):96-107. doi: 10.1080/21691401.2021.1873798.
Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease associated with inflammatory cell infiltration and activation of immune-related pathways. In our study, we aimed to uncover immune-related changes and explore novel immunological features in the development of carotid atherosclerotic plaques. First, we applied integrated bioinformatics methods, including CIBERSORT and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). The gene expression matrices GSE28829, GSE41571, and GSE43292 were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset. After a series of data pre-processing steps, the resulting combined expression matrices were analysed using the CIBERSORT, GSEA, and Cluster Profiler packages. After the comparison and analysis between the carotid atherosclerotic plaques in the early and advanced stages, we discovered that there is a higher percentage of activated memory CD4 T cells and a lower percentage of resting memory CD4 cells in advanced-stage plaques. Moreover, activation of memory CD4 T cells can promote the development of carotid atherosclerotic plaques. Additionally, FOXP3 Treg cell maturation can also participate in the progression of carotid plaques.
动脉粥样硬化是一种与炎症细胞浸润和免疫相关途径激活相关的系统性疾病。在我们的研究中，我们旨在揭示免疫相关变化，并探索颈动脉粥样硬化斑块发展中的新型免疫学特征。首先，我们应用了整合的生物信息学方法，包括 CIBERSORT 和基因集富集分析（GSEA）。基因表达矩阵 GSE28829、GSE41571 和 GSE43292 从基因表达综合数据库（GEO）数据集获得。在进行了一系列数据预处理步骤后，使用 CIBERSORT、GSEA 和 Cluster Profiler 包分析了得到的综合表达矩阵。在比较和分析早期和晚期颈动脉粥样硬化斑块后，我们发现晚期斑块中激活的记忆 CD4 T 细胞比例较高，而静止的记忆 CD4 细胞比例较低。此外，记忆 CD4 T 细胞的激活可以促进颈动脉粥样硬化斑块的发展。此外，FOXP3+Treg 细胞的成熟也可以参与颈动脉斑块的进展。
