Atherosclerosis is a condition of dysfunctional macrophages. Macrophages are responsible for clearing out lipids that end up in blood vessel walls, ingesting these misplaced lipid molecules and handing them off to HDL particles to be carried to the liver for excretion. This works just fine in youth, in an environment of low oxidative stress and few oxidized lipids. Aging brings chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and oxidized lipids, however. Macrophages cannot process oxidized lipids all that well, and so becom…
TRIB1 Regulates Uptake of Oxidized Lipids into Macrophages, and thus Drives Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a condition of dysfunctional macrophages. Macrophages are responsible for clearing out lipids that end up in blood vessel walls, ingesting these misplaced lipid molecules and handing them off to HDL particles to be carried to the liver for excretion. This works just fine in youth, in an environment of low oxidative stress and few oxidized lipids. Aging brings chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and oxidized lipids, however. Macrophages cannot process oxidized lipids all that well, and so becom…