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Overrepresentation of Th1- and Th17-like Follicular Helper T Cells in Coronary Artery Disease

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Abstract

T cells and B cells play substantial roles in the process of coronary artery disease (CAD). Here, we examined the role of circulating follicular helper T (Tfh) cells in CAD. Compared to non-CAD controls, CAD patients had increased levels of circulating Tfh. Also, circulating Tfh in CAD patients exhibited increased frequencies of Th1- and Th17-like phenotypes and aberrant cytokine expressions. Coculture experiments with B cells showed that Tfh from CAD patients were more potent at inducing antibody production from B cells, enhancing plasmablast differentiation and suppressing B10 cell differentiation. Importantly, we found that the skewing of circulating Tfh toward the Th1/Th17-like cells was directly correlated with B cell inflammation and low density lipoprotein level in CAD patients. Together, our data demonstrated a skewing of blood Tfh composition in CAD patients, which resulted in significant changes in B cell inflammation.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Cardiology, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200003, China

      Ru Ding, Zhiqing He, Feng Wu, Zonggui Wu & Chun Liang

    2. Department of Orthopedics, Putuo Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 200062, China

      Wenwu Gao

    3. Ganbu Ward, No. 401 Hospital of PLA, Qingdao, Shandong, China

      Haibing Wang

    4. Research Center, BGC Biotechnology, Chicago, IL, USA

      Colin D. Conrad, Charles M. Dinney & Xiaozou Yuan

    5. Department of Cardiology, East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200120, China

      Lan Ma

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    1. Ru Ding
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    2. Wenwu Gao
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    3. Zhiqing He
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    4. Haibing Wang
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    5. Colin D. Conrad
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    6. Charles M. Dinney
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    7. Xiaozou Yuan
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    8. Feng Wu
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    9. Lan Ma
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    10. Zonggui Wu
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    11. Chun Liang
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    Corresponding authors

    Correspondence to Lan Ma, Zonggui Wu or Chun Liang.

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    Financial Disclosure

    This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (81400336, 81130065, 31171130, 81270405, 81473445, 91539118, 81501523, 81503371), National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2014ZX09301307-016), and Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology (15401931500, 13ZR1413600).

    Additional information

    Associate Editor Angela Taylor oversaw the review of this article.

    Ru Ding, Wenwu Gao and Zhiqing He contributed equally to this work.

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    Ding, R., Gao, W., He, Z. et al. Overrepresentation of Th1- and Th17-like Follicular Helper T Cells in Coronary Artery Disease. J. of Cardiovasc. Trans. Res. 8, 503–505 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12265-015-9662-0

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12265-015-9662-0

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