Abstract

Atherosclerosis is rapidly gaining recognition as an inflammatory disease showing contribution from innate and adaptive immunity pathways towards disease initiation and progression. Components of adaptive immunity especially T cells, are shown to be involved in atherogenesis and subsets of T cells are known to drive/ dampen inflammatory processes in atherosclerosis. However, the regulatory balance between the T cell subsets remains unclear. In this review, we summarize the role of T helper cells Th1, 2, 3 and 17, and regulatory cells Treg in atherosclerosis by studying the cytokines involved in Th cell functioning. We further examine the diverse roles of T helper cells for regulating the progression of atherosclerosis.

Keywords: T-helper cell, atherosclerosis, cytokine, cluster of differentiation, T regulation cells, inflammatory disease, adaptive immunity, lymphocytes, leukocyte, immune system, cell-mediated immune responses, Th2 cells, humoral immune response, human atheromatous plaques, Cellular Adhesion Molecules, monocytes, macrophages, B-lymphocytes, dendritic cells, major histocompatibility complex, interferon, transforming growth factor, immunoglobulins, low-density lipoprotein receptor, apolipoprotein E, 2-glycoprotein I, rheumatoid arthritis, antiphospholipid syndrome, IFN, Natural killer T, antigen presenting cells, HMG-CoA, ApoE, P. gingivalis, CCR5, CD195, glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan, CD40, MHC II, CD80, CD86, TLR4 expression, abdominal aortic aneurysms, NF-B binding sites, oxLDL antibodies, malondialdehyde-LDL-specific, Treg cells, pro-inflammatory cytokines, Drosophila, C. pneumoniae, atherosclerotic lesions, delayed-type hypersensitivity, Inducible nitric oxide synthase, Lipopolysaccharide, Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1