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Early intermittent hyperlipidaemia alters tissue macrophages to fuel atherosclerosis

Takaoka, Minoru; Zhao, Xiaohui; Lim, Hwee Ying; Magnussen, Costan G; Ang, Owen; Suffee, Nadine; Schrank, Patricia R; ... Mallat, Ziad; + view all (2024) Early intermittent hyperlipidaemia alters tissue macrophages to fuel atherosclerosis. Nature 10.1038/s41586-024-07993-x. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Hyperlipidaemia is a major risk factor of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Risk of cardiovascular events depends on cumulative lifetime exposure to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and, independently, on the time course of exposure to LDL-C, with early exposure being associated with a higher risk1. Furthermore, LDL-C fluctuations are associated with ASCVD outcomes2-4. However, the precise mechanisms behind this increased ASCVD risk are not understood. Here, we make the unexpected observation that early intermittent feeding of mice with a high-cholesterol Western-type diet (WD) accelerates atherosclerosis compared with late continuous exposure to WD, despite similar cumulative circulating LDL-C levels. We find that early intermittent hyperlipidaemia alters the number and homeostatic phenotype of resident-like arterial macrophages. Macrophage genes with altered expression are enriched for genes linked to human ASCVD in genome-wide association studies. We show that LYVE1+ resident macrophages are atheroprotective, and identify new biological pathways, related to actin filament organisation, whose alteration accelerates atherosclerosis. Using the Young Finns Study, we show that exposure to cholesterol early in life is significantly associated with the incidence and size of carotid atherosclerotic plaques in mid-adulthood. In summary, our results identify early intermittent exposure to cholesterol as a strong determinant of accelerated atherosclerosis, highlighting the importance of optimal control of hyperlipidaemia early in life, and providing insight into the underlying biological mechanisms. This knowledge will be essential to designing effective therapeutic strategies to combat atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Type: Article
Title: Early intermittent hyperlipidaemia alters tissue macrophages to fuel atherosclerosis
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07993-x
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07993-x
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Institute of Ophthalmology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10197195
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