Antibodies as Warning Signs of a Silent Cardiovascular Killer

In atherosclerosis, cholesterol and other fatty deposits build up around the inner walls of an artery, creating a plaque that restricts blood flow. Plaques pose a double risk — they can detach from the artery causing a blood clot or lead to a heart attack or stroke.

The problem is that plaques form gradually over years, without any symptomatic warning signs. The key to earlier interventions is the identification of biomarkers to alert physicians to the presence of atherosclerosis before it’s too late. In the United States, over 600,00 people die of heart disease every year, representing 1 in 4 deaths.

In a recent publication in Nature, scientists have made an important connection between atherosclerosis and the immune system, leading to the discovery of a new biomarker for the condition.

One of the authors, Almudena Ramiro, said: “We know that atherosclerosis includes an immunological component and that the innate and adaptive immune systems are both involved in the origin and progression of this disease.”

Ramiro and colleagues demonstrated that in atherosclerosis, the immune system recognizes a mitochondrial protein called ALDH4A1 as an autoantigen, producing antibodies against it.