What Does Macrophage Apoptosis Do in Atherosclerosis?
From the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke s Centre for Clinical Investigation, Addenbrooke s Hospital, UK. Correspondence to Professor Bennett, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Cambridge, Box 110, Addenbrooke s Centre for Clinical Investigation, Addenbrooke s Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2QQ, UK. E-mail mrb{at}mole.bio.cam.ac.uk’ + u + ‘@’ + d + ”//–> Cell death is found in human and animal atherosclerotic plaques.1–4 There is now extensive evidence for both apoptosis and necrosis, the latter being either a primary process or secondary to apoptosis (secondary necrosis). There is also extensive evidence that other processes or structural changes in the plaque accompany cell death, such as inflammation, thrombosis, calcification, and changes in size of both the fibrous cap and necrotic core (reviewed in5). Plaque cell death is also associated with a systemic proinflammatory state, with changes in multiple serum cytokines.6–8 However
