Atherosclerosis May Be Classified as an Autoimmune Disease, New Research Suggests
New research from an international consortium, led by Professor Andreas Habenicht at LMU University Hospital and Professor Changjun Yin at Sun-Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, suggests that atherosclerosis meets key criteria for an autoimmune disease. The study, published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, identifies high-affinity autoreactive antibodies that accelerate atherosclerosis when transferred into mice. One of these autoantibodies targets histone 2B. Further experiments showed that vaccinating mice with histone 2B increased the severity of atherosclerosis. These experimental findings in mice were supported by a clinical trial involving 495 patients from Guangzhou. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by the immune system attacking the body through pathogenic B cells or T cells, leading to organ damage, as seen in conditions like multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. This new evidence proposes a similar mechanism for atherosclerosis, a condition previously not form...
