Abstract
A complete knowledge of atherosclerosis requires a better understanding of how innate and adaptive immunity operate systemically and locally within the arterial wall. T-helper 1 (Th1) lymphocyte responses have proatherogenic effects in mice, contrasting with the responses of T regulatory cells (Tregs), which can suppress growth of atherosclerotic lesions. An imbalance in the differentiation of T-helper cells may therefore impact the development, size, and stability of atherosclerosis plaques. This chapter describes a method to isolate naïve CD4+ T cells from atherosclerosis-prone mouse peripheral blood lymphocytes and to differentiate these CD4+ T cells in vitro to various T helper cell lineages. These techniques allow the analysis of T lymphocytes in vitro, a necessary step in the study of molecular mechanisms involved in the inflammatory responses that trigger atherosclerosis.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Simon Bartlett, Marta Blanco-Berrocal and Raquel Toribio-Fernández for editorial and technical assistance. This work is supported by ISCIII (Miguel Servet Program, CP11/00145 and PI14/00526) with co-funding from the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) and by the Fundación Ramón Areces. The CNIC is supported by the MINECO and the Pro-CNIC Foundation.
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Iborra, S., González-Granado, J.M. (2015). In Vitro Differentiation of Naïve CD4+ T Cells: A Tool for Understanding the Development of Atherosclerosis. In: Andrés, V., Dorado, B. (eds) Methods in Mouse Atherosclerosis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1339. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2929-0_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2929-0_12
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2928-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2929-0
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