Effects of rapamycin-treated HSP60-pulsed dendritic cells on the progression of the atherosclerotic plaque in mice / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM: To evaluate whether tolerogenic dendritic cells (DC) loaded with heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) inhibit the progression of aortic atherosclerotic plaque in hypercholesterolemic apolipoprotein E (Apo-E) -null mice. METHODS: Bone marrow derived DC of the mice were loaded with HSP60 and co-cultured with rapamycin to generate tolerogenic DC. The tolerogenic DC, DC loaded only HSP60 and PBS were injected into the ApoE-null mice at 8 weeks of age for three times at a one-week interval. 8 weeks after the last injection, aorta were harvested for HE staining and anti-CD4~+T cell immunostaining. Responses of pleenic cells to HSP60 were also evaluated. RESULTS: Compared with DC, DC_ HSP60 expressed higher levels of CD86, and stimulated T lymphocytes to proliferation significantly, while the tolerogenic DC expressed lower levels of CD86, and inhibited T lymphocytes to proliferation. After immunization with different injection, the numbers of CD4~+ T cells in plaque were increased significantly in DC_ HSP60 group vs in PBS group (P