Inflammatory mechanisms of atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is characterized by chronic inflammation of the arterial wall. Mononuclear cell recruitment is driven by chemokines that can be deposited e.g. by activated platelets on inflamed endothelium. Chemokines require oligomerization and immobilization for efficient function, and recent evidence supports the notion that heterodimer formation between chemokines constitutes a new regulatory principle amplifying specific chemokine activities while suppressing others. Although crucial to inflammatory disease, this functional role has been difficult to prove in vivo, primarily as chemokine heterodimers exist in equilibrium with their homodimer counterparts. We have introduced the paradigm that heteromerization of chemokines provides the combinatorial diversity for functional plasticity and fine-tuning, coining this interactome. [more]

Biosketch Christian Weber