Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42706439›Full record

ArticleNature cardiovascular research2026

Artery tertiary lymphoid organs encode a pathogenic high-affinity autoantibody-autoantigen pair in atherosclerosis.

Chuankai Zhang, Xi Zhang, Yi Ran, Zhihua Wang, Liping Li, Shu Wang, Junjie Zheng, Yixin Zhang, Ting Sun, Yutao Li and 29 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature cardiovascular research, 2026. 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. Review
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

39 authors.

Chuankai Zhang *Division of Vascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Xi Zhang *Institute of Intelligent Sport and Proactive Health, Department of Health and Physical Education, Jianghan University, Wuhan, China.
Yi Ran *Institute of Precision Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Zhihua Wang *Division of Vascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Liping LiInstitute of Precision Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Shu WangInstitute of Precision Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Junjie ZhengInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Yixin ZhangInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Ting SunDivision of Vascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Yutao LiInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Shu LuInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4338-7164
Mingyang HongInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5692-2464
Zhe MaInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Sabine SteffensInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6892-9751
Michael HristovInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Xavier BlanchetInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Jingpu ZhuInstitute of Precision Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Xinwen DouInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Xinyi DengInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Klaus DornmairInstitute of Clinical Neuroimmunology, University Hospital, LMU, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0342-5373
Desheng HuDepartment of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Shibojyoti LahiriMolecular Biology, Biomedical Center (BMC), LMU Medizin; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.
Axel ImhofMolecular Biology, Biomedical Center (BMC), LMU Medizin; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.
Nadja SachsDepartment of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, TUM University Hospital, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany.
Lars MaegdefesselDZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research), partner site Munich Heart Alliance, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5228-2634
Jingyi XiaoHealth Management Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Jianning ZhangHealth Management Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Yan WangHealth Management Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Hua HongHealth Management Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Livia HabenichtInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Xinyu WengDepartment of Cardiology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7620-0813
Junbo GeDepartment of Cardiology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9360-7332
Christian WeberInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Donato SantovitoInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1811-4746
Rachael Bashford-RogersWellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford, UK.
Sarajo K MohantaInstitute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6144-4092
Klaus LeyImmunology Center of Georgia (IMMCG), Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9339-3672
Andreas J R Habenicht *Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention (IPEK), LMU University Hospital, LMU Medizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany. andreas.habenicht@med.uni-muenchen.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2901-3027
Changjun Yin *Division of Vascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. yinchj3@mail.sysu.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1913-4477

Funding

China Postdoctoral Science Foundation 2024M753752Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) HA 1083/15-4Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) HA 1083/15-5Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) SFB 1123/A1EC | EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020 | H2020 Priority Excellent Science | H2020 European Research Council (H2020 Excellent Science - European Research Council) ERC AdG 692511Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program 2023ZT10Y094National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 82270480National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 82400531
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Artery tertiary lymphoid organs (ATLOs) emerge in atherosclerosis, which is a chronic inflammatory artery disease with an autoimmune component. However, whether disease-relevant autoimmune B cells emerge in ATLOs remains unknown. In this study, we isolate germinal center (GC) B cells from ATLOs and lymph nodes from healthy and atherosclerosis-burdened mice, expression clone 60 autoantibodies and screen them for arterial wall reactivity. ATLO GC B cell-derived autoantibodies skew to atherosclerosis-relevant autoantigens versus their counterparts in lymph nodes of both genotypes. One ATLO GC B cell-derived autoantibody (termed A6) binds to histone 2B (H2B) with high affinity. Both vaccination with H2B and adoptive transfer of A6 accelerate atherosclerosis, revealing a pathogenic autoantibody-autoantigen pair. Mechanistically, ATLOs specifically show both distorted B cell activation and immune tolerance checkpoint-regulating gene expression profiles. In a human cohort, circulating anti-H2B antibody titers positively correlate with aortic calcification in humans. We suggest that ATLOs harbor a dysregulated immune tolerance environment permissive for autoreactive B cells that express pathogenic autoantibodies promoting atherosclerosis.

Indexed as

Antibody AffinityAortic DiseasesAtherosclerosisAutoantibodiesAutoantigensAutoimmunityB-LymphocytesTertiary Lymphoid StructuresAnimalsDisease Models, AnimalFemaleGerminal CenterHistonesHumansLymph NodesLymphocyte ActivationAutoantibodiesAutoantigensHistones

Identifiers

PMID42706439
PMCPMC13561875

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

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.