Ee. Emeson et Ml. Shen, ACCELERATED ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN HYPERLIPIDEMIC C57BL 6 MICE TREATED WITH CYCLOSPORINE-A/, The American journal of pathology, 142(6), 1993, pp. 1906-1915
We and others have demonstrated that T lymphocytes are prominent compo
nents of atherosclerotic lesions. We hypothesized that if T cells were
necessary for the development of atherosclerosis it would be possible
to demonstrate its prevention or retardation in T-cell-suppressed mic
e. To test this hypothesis, CyA, a potent suppressor of T-cell activat
ion, was used to treat C57BL/6 mice under-going lipid hyperalimentatio
n. Mice receiving normal mouse chow were completely free of atheroscle
rotic lesions. In mice receiving the atherogenic diet plus control oil
injections, lesions of the aorta and corona arteries were observed at
135 days and increased progressively in area until 310 days. Somewhat
surprisingly, mice given the atherogenic diet plus CyA injections dis
played even larger lesions at all three observed time intervals. Altho
ugh CyA did suppress T-cell reactivity sufficiently to obtain the expe
cted prolongation of skin allografts, it did not suppress the developm
ent or progression of atherosclerotic lesions.