ArticleCirculation research2011
Human atherosclerotic plaque alternative macrophages display low cholesterol handling but high phagocytosis because of distinct activities of the PPARγ and LXRα pathways.
Article in Circulation research, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 206 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
206 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 370 citations in OpenAlex.
- Persimmon leaf extract in dyslipidemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- An unbalanced monocyte polarisation in peripheral blood and bone marrow of patients with type 2 diabetes has an impact on microangiopathy.Diabetologia · 2013Trial
- PPAR-γ participates in macrophage polarization induced by Pentatrichomonas hominis.Medical microbiology and immunology · 2026Article
- Inflammation in atherosclerosis: Drivers, mechanisms and therapies.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Review
- Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells ameliorate Diabetic Kidney Disease by restoring macrophage efferocytosis.Stem cell research & therapy · 2026Article
- KAP1 SUMOylates and stabilizes SR-A to facilitate glycated LDL transcytosis and accelerate atherosclerosis.Cellular & molecular biology letters · 2026Article
- Single-cell spatial transcriptomics reveals clonal smooth muscle cell heterogeneity and programs associated with atherosclerotic plaque calcification.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2026Article
- CD80Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Article
- Slc7a11-Mediated Cystine/Glutamate Antiport Reprograms Macrophage Polarization and Ameliorates Atherosclerosis.MedComm · 2026Article
- How Advanced is Nanomedicine to Treat Atherosclerosis? A Comprehensive Review of the Literature.International journal of nanomedicine · 2026Review
- RORα: a critical nexus in the crosstalk between cholesterol metabolism and macrophage polarization.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Reframing macrophage polarization through cholesterol efflux: an organelle-coupled immunometabolic model.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- ANPEP governs macrophage lipid metabolism and macrophage foam cell formation in large-artery atherosclerotic stroke.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Review
- Spatial Myeloid Landscape of Large Artery Atherosclerotic and Cardioembolic Thrombi Retrieved by Mechanical Thrombectomy.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2025Article
- Macrophage polarization in diabetic vascular complications: mechanistic insights and therapeutic targets.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Review
- Macrophage-Kruppel-Like Transcription Factor 6 Signaling Promotes Experimental Atherogenesis.The American journal of pathology · 2025Article
- Fortilin deficiency induces anti-atherosclerotic phenotypes in macrophages and protects hypercholesterolemic mice against atherosclerosis.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Phenotyping atherosclerotic plaque and perivascular adipose tissue: signalling pathways and clinical biomarkers in atherosclerosis.Nature reviews. Cardiology · 2025Review
146 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleA crucial step in atherogenesis is the infiltration of the subendothelial space of large arteries by monocytes where they differentiate into macrophages and transform into lipid-loaded foam cells. Macrophages are heterogeneous cells that adapt their response to environmental cytokines. Th1 cytokines promote monocyte differentiation into M1 macrophages, whereas Th2 cytokines trigger an "alternative" M2 phenotype.
objectiveWe previously reported the presence of CD68(+) mannose receptor (MR)(+) M2 macrophages in human atherosclerotic plaques. However, the function of these plaque CD68(+)MR(+) macrophages is still unknown. METHODS AND
resultsHistological analysis revealed that CD68(+)MR(+) macrophages locate far from the lipid core of the plaque and contain smaller lipid droplets compared to CD68(+)MR(-) macrophages. Interleukin (IL)-4-polarized CD68(+)MR(+) macrophages display a reduced capacity to handle and efflux cellular cholesterol because of low expression levels of the nuclear receptor liver x receptor (LXR)α and its target genes, ABCA1 and apolipoprotein E, attributable to the high 15-lipoxygenase activity in CD68(+)MR(+) macrophages. By contrast, CD68(+)MR(+) macrophages highly express opsonins and receptors involved in phagocytosis, resulting in high phagocytic activity. In M2 macrophages, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ activation enhances the phagocytic but not the cholesterol trafficking pathways.
conclusionsThese data identify a distinct macrophage subpopulation with a low susceptibility to become foam cells but high phagocytic activity resulting from different regulatory activities of the PPARγ-LXRα pathways.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.