Studying the role of macrophages in coronary heart disease

Recruitment, Proliferation and Differentiation of Monocyte/ Macrophages in Cardiovascular Inflammation and Repair (renewal)

Atherosclerosis, where the inner lining of blood vessels becomes ‘furred up’ with fatty plaque, is the underlying cause of angina, heart attacks and strokes. In areas of atherosclerosis, specialist inflammatory cells are activated by the damage to the blood vessel. We know that monocytes, which are one of these cell types, change into another type of cell called macrophages during atherosclerosis. Macrophages are essential to the formation of fatty plaques in the artery walls and the gradual narrowing of the artery associated with angina and ultimately the rupture of the plaque which can cause a heart attack. Professor Greaves has developed a way to track monocytes, in mice, as they enter sites of inflammation and become macrophages. They can watch how these cells move into areas of artery and heart injury and measure how active they are. The team studies mice with artery injury, atherosclerosis and heart attack to understand what attracts the monocytes to the site of injury and the key molecules and pathways that cause the change into macrophages. Their ambition is to identify new targets that could prevent inflammation, and prevent and treat coronary heart disease.