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14 June 2019
Niels Riksen, theme Vascular damage, coordinator of the project states that “we thus observed that these immune cells appear to ‘remember’ the high cholesterol, they once were exposed to. The finding that monocytes can remember previous exposures has only recently been discovered, and has been termed ‘trained immunity’, and this is the first study to demonstrate this in patients.” According to Riksen it would be interesting to investigate now how long this memory lasts and also whether the hyperactivity of the monocytes can be reduced by other drug types, such as anti-inflammatory drug.
Source: Bekkering S, Stiekema LCA, Bernelot Moens S, Verweij SL, Novakovic B, Prange K, Versloot M, Roeters van Lennep JE, Stunnenberg H, de Winther M, Stroes ESG, Joosten LAB, Netea MG, Riksen NP. Treatment with statins does not revert trained immunity in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. Cell Metab 2019 [in press]
Hypercholesterolemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Statins are the most widely used cholesterol-lowering drugs. However, despite treatment with statins, many patients with elevated cholesterol levels will still develop cardiovascular disease. Currently it is apparent that not only cholesterol but also the immune system plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, but how cholesterol and the immune system interact is still unravelled.
Niels Riksen, theme Vascular damage, coordinator of the project states that “we thus observed that these immune cells appear to ‘remember’ the high cholesterol, they once were exposed to. The finding that monocytes can remember previous exposures has only recently been discovered, and has been termed ‘trained immunity’, and this is the first study to demonstrate this in patients.” According to Riksen it would be interesting to investigate now how long this memory lasts and also whether the hyperactivity of the monocytes can be reduced by other drug types, such as anti-inflammatory drug.
Source: Bekkering S, Stiekema LCA, Bernelot Moens S, Verweij SL, Novakovic B, Prange K, Versloot M, Roeters van Lennep JE, Stunnenberg H, de Winther M, Stroes ESG, Joosten LAB, Netea MG, Riksen NP. Treatment with statins does not revert trained immunity in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. Cell Metab 2019 [in press]
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