Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports

, Volume 6, Issue 1, pp 45–52 | Cite as

Cholesterol, Inflammasomes, and Atherogenesis

Lipids (JM Ordovas, Section Editor)
First Online:

Abstract

Plasma cholesterol levels have been strongly associated with atherogenesis, underscoring the role of lipid metabolism in defining cardiovascular disease risk. However, the atherosclerotic plaque is highly dynamic and contains elements of both the innate and adaptive immune system that respond to the aberrant accumulation of lipids in the subendothelial space. Previous research has focused on defining how proinflammatory cytokines synthesized by macrophages, such as interleukin-1β (IL-1β), modulate the progression of atherosclerosis, supporting the notion that chronic inflammation accelerates atherogenesis. More recently, emphasis has been placed on the elucidation of the mechanisms that contribute to pro–IL-1β production and finally its processing via multiprotein complexes termed the inflammasomes, a family of cytosolic multiprotein complexes that serve as sensors of either pathogen invasion or cellular stress (ie, cholesterol crystals) and work via triggering caspase-1–mediated processing of pro–IL-1β to IL-1β. Based on this link between cholesterol metabolism, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and IL-1β release, it is important to re-evaluate how the atherogenic environment stimulates immune cells to produce IL-1β.

Keywords

Inflammasome Inflammation Cholesterol Atherogenesis Cardiovascular diseases 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

Supported by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grants HL-54776, and U01 HL72524; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Grant Number DK075030 and by contracts 53-K06-5-10 and 58-1950-9-001 from the US Department of Agriculture Research.

Disclosure

No conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Division of Immunology, Department of Microbiology and ImmunobiologyHarvard Medical SchoolBostonUSA
  2. 2.Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory, USDAHNRCA at Tufts UniversityBostonUSA
  3. 3.The Department of Epidemiology and Population GeneticsCentro Nacional Investigación Cardiovasculares MadridMadridSpain
  4. 4.IMDEA AlimentacionMadridSpain

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