A Novel Monocyte Subset as a Unique Signature of Atherosclerotic Plaque Rupture (original) (raw)

The evaluation of monocyte subset distribution among acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients according to culprit coronary plaque morphology has never been explored. We evaluated whether there were significant differences in frequency of circulating monocyte subsets isolated from ACS patients according to optical coherence tomography (OCT) investigation of plaque erosion and rupture. We enrolled 74 patients with non-ST-elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS), 21 of them underwent OCT investigation of the culprit coronary plaque and local macrophage infiltration (MØI) assessment. As control, we enrolled 30 chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) patients. We assessed the frequency of monocyte subsets in the whole study population, in reliance on their CD14 and CD16 expression (classical, CM: CD14++CD16–; intermediates, IM: CD14++CD16+; non-classical, NCM: CD14+CD16++). Then, we tested the effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (a CD14 ligand) on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of NSTE-ACS patients, q...