Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40911589›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

3D cryoimaging of cell-mediated cholesterol crystal clearance in human atherosclerotic lesions.

Jenny Capua-Shenkar, Antonia Kaestner, Katya Rechav, Vlad Brumfeld, Ifat Kaplan-Ashiri, Neta Varsano, Ori Avinoam, Chen Speter, Moshe Halak, Howard Kruth and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 3D cryoimaging of cell-mediated cholesterol crystal clearance in human atherosclerotic lesions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Jenny Capua-ShenkarDepartment of Chemical and Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
Antonia KaestnerDepartment of Chemical and Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
Katya RechavDepartment of Chemical Research Support, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.ORCID 0000-0003-4664-5704
Vlad BrumfeldDepartment of Chemical Research Support, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
Ifat Kaplan-AshiriDepartment of Chemical Research Support, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
Neta VarsanoDepartment of Chemical Research Support, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
Ori AvinoamDepartment of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.ORCID 0000-0003-3543-168X
Chen SpeterDepartment of Vascular Surgery, Sheba Tel-HaShomer Medical Center, Ramat-Gan 52621, Israel.
Moshe HalakDepartment of Vascular Surgery, Sheba Tel-HaShomer Medical Center, Ramat-Gan 52621, Israel.
Howard KruthExperimental Atherosclerosis Section, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Lia AddadiDepartment of Chemical and Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.ORCID 0000-0003-1693-648X

Funding

United States - Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) 2019087
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We applied micro-computed tomography, high-resolution cryo-scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with cathodoluminescence, and cryo-focused ion beam Milling-SEM to perform three-dimensional imaging of human atherosclerotic tissues with tens of nanometers resolution, under hydrated, near-native conditions with minimal sample processing. The same technology was applied to cultured macrophages exposed to cholesterol crystals, and the observations made on the macrophages were compared to those made on the pathological tissue. We observed that cholesterol crystal digestion and, eventually, cholesterol crystal clearance occurs in the advanced human plaques through cellular processing. Our findings suggest that cholesterol crystal disassembly occurs through the esterification of crystalline cholesterol to cholesteryl-ester in isolated volumes, whereby the ester aggregates into intra- and extracellular pools. The hypothesis is supported by the close similarity of the processes imaged in the human tissue and in the macrophages and is in agreement with earlier biochemical studies performed on cultured macrophages.

Indexed as

AtherosclerosisCholesterolImaging, Three-DimensionalPlaque, AtheroscleroticCryoelectron MicroscopyCrystallizationHumansMacrophagesMicroscopy, Electron, ScanningX-Ray MicrotomographyCholesterolatherosclerosischolesterol crystalscryo-FIB-SEMphagocytosed crystals

Identifiers

PMID40911589
PMCPMC12452942

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Registered trials

None linked

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.