The authors determined the effect of the GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide on endothelial surface expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 in murine apolipoprotein E knockout atherosclerosis. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound molecular imaging using microbubbles targeted to VCAM-1 and control microbubbles showed a 3-fold increase in endothelial surface VCAM-1 signal in vehicle-treated animals, whereas in the liraglutide-treated animals the signal ratio remained around 1 throughout the study. Liraglutide had no influence on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or glycated hemoglobin, but reduced TNF-α, IL-1β, MCP-1, and OPN. Aortic plaque lesion area and luminal VCAM-1 expression on immunohistology were reduced under liraglutide treatment.

Recently, Nrf2/HO-1 has received extensive attention as the main regulatory pathway of intracellular defense against oxidative stress and is considered an ideal target for alleviating endothelial cell (EC) injury.
This paper aimed to summarized the natural monomers/extracts that potentially exert protective effects against oxidative stress in ECs.
A literature search was carried out regarding our topic with the keywords of \"atherosclerosis\" or \"Nrf2/HO-1\" or \"vascular endothelial cells\" or \"oxidative stress\" or \"Herbal medicine\" or \"natural products\" or \"natural extracts\" or \"natural compounds\" or \"traditional Chinese medicines\" based on classic books of herbal medicine and scientific databases including Pubmed, SciFinder, Scopus, the Web of Science, GoogleScholar, BaiduScholar, and others. Then, we analyzed the possible molecular mechanisms for different types of natural compounds in the treatment of atherosclerosis via the protection of vascular endothelial cells from oxidative stress. In addition, perspectives for possible future studies are discussed.
These agents with protective effects against oxidative stress in ECs mainly include phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, terpenoids, and alkaloids. Most of these agents alleviate cell apoptosis in ECs due to oxidative stress, and the mechanisms are related to Nrf2/HO-1 signaling activation. However, despite continued progress in research on various aspects of natural agents exerting protective effects against EC injury by activating Nrf2/HO-1 signaling, the development of new drugs for the treatment of atherosclerosis (AS) and other CVDs based on these agents will require more detailed preclinical and clinical studies.
Our present paper provides updated information of natural agents with protective activities on ECs against oxidative stress by activating Nrf2/HO-1. We hope this review will provide some directions for the further development of novel candidate drugs from natural agents for the treatment of AS and other CVDs.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic intestinal disease with painful clinical manifestations and high risks of cancerization. With no curative therapy for IBD at present, the development of effective therapeutics is highly advocated. Drug delivery systems have been extensively studied to transmit therapeutics to inflamed colon sites through the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect caused by the inflammation. However, the drug still could not achieve effective concentration value that merely utilized on EPR effect and display better therapeutic efficacy in the inflamed region because of nontargeted drug release. Substantial researches have shown that some specific receptors and cell adhesion molecules highly expresses on the surface of colonic endothelial and/or immune cells when IBD occurs, ligand-modified drug delivery systems targeting such receptors and cell adhesion molecules can specifically deliver drug into inflamed sites and obtain great curative effects. This review introduces the overexpressed receptors and cell adhesion molecules in inflamed colon sites and retrospects the drug delivery systems functionalized by related ligands. Finally, challenges and future directions in this field are presented to advance the development of the receptor-mediated targeted drug delivery systems for the therapy of IBD.

BACKGROUND: Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) that target PD-1 (programmed cell death protein-1) and/or CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4) are commonly associated with acute immune-related adverse events. Accumulating evidence also suggests that ICIs aggravate existing inflammatory diseases.
OBJECTIVE: As inflammation drives atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, we studied the propensity of short-term ICI therapy to aggravate atherosclerosis.
METHODS: We used 18F-FDG (2-deoxy-2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-D-glucose) positron emission tomography-computed tomography to detect macrophage-driven vascular and systemic inflammation in pembrolizumab and nivolumab/ipilimumab-treated melanoma patients. In parallel, atherosclerotic Ldlr -/- mice were treated with CTLA-4 and PD-1 inhibition to study the proinflammatory consequences of immune checkpoint inhibition.
RESULTS: ICI treatment did not affect 18F-FDG uptake in the large arteries, spleen, and bone marrow of melanoma patients, nor myeloid cell activation in blood and lymphoid organs in hyperlipidemic mice. In contrast, we found marked changes in the adaptive immune response (i.e., increased CD4+ effector T cell and CD8+ cytotoxic T cell numbers in lymphoid organs and the arterial wall of our hyperlipidemic mice). Although plaque size was unaffected, plaques had progressed toward a lymphoid-based inflammatory phenotype, characterized by a 2.7-fold increase of CD8+ T cells and a 3.9-fold increase in necrotic core size. Increased endothelial activation was observed with a 2.2-fold and 1.6-fold increase in vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that combination therapy with anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 antibodies does not affect myeloid-driven vascular and systemic inflammation in melanoma patients and hyperlipidemic mice. However, short-term ICI therapy in mice induces T cell-mediated plaque inflammation and drives plaque progression.

This study showed that treatment with a therapeutic monoclonal immunoglobulin-G1 antibody against phosphorylcholine on oxidized phospholipids preserves coronary flow reserve and attenuates atherosclerotic inflammation as determined by the uptake of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose in atherosclerotic mice. The noninvasive imaging techniques represent translational tools to assess the efficacy of phosphorylcholine-targeted therapy on coronary artery function and atherosclerosis in clinical studies.

Although chronic inflammation is a central feature of heart failure (HF), the immune cell profiles differ with different underlying causes. This suggests that for immunomodulatory therapy in HF to be successful, it needs to be tailored to the specific etiology. Here, the authors demonstrate that monocyte-derived C-C chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2)+ macrophages infiltrate the heart early during pressure overload in mice, and that blocking this response either pharmacologically or with antibody-mediated CCR2+ monocyte depletion alleviates late pathological left ventricular remodeling and dysfunction, T-cell expansion, and cardiac fibrosis. Hence, suppression of CCR2+ monocytes/macrophages may be an important immunomodulatory therapeutic target to ameliorate pressure-overload HF.

Preclinical studies have shown benefit of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I)/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) raising in atherosclerosis; however, this has not yet translated into a successful clinical therapy. Our studies demonstrate that apoA-I raising is more effective at reducing early-stage atherosclerosis than late-stage disease, indicating that the timing of HDL raising is a critical factor in its atheroprotective effects. To date, HDL-raising clinical trials have only been performed in aged patients with advanced atherosclerotic disease. Our findings therefore provide insight, related to important temporal aspects of HDL raising, as to why the clinical trials have thus far been largely neutral.

Population-based studies have shown an inverse association between dietary menaquinones (MK-n, vitamin K2) intake, coronary calcification and CHD risk, suggesting a potential role of vitamin K in vascular health. To date, the effects of increased menaquinone intake on (markers of) vascular health have been investigated using predominantly food supplements. Dairy products contain many essential nutrients and can serve as a good matrix for food fortification in order to support health. We were therefore interested to study the effects of a menaquinone-fortified yogurt drink (menaquinone as menaquinone-7 (MK-7); 28 µg MK-7/yogurt drink) on vitamin K status and markers of vascular health. The yogurt drink was also fortified with n-3 PUFA, vitamin D, vitamin C, Ca and Mg to support vascular and/or general health. Healthy men (n 32) and postmenopausal women (n 28) with a mean age of 56 (sd 5) years received either basic or fortified yogurt drink twice per d for 12 weeks. MK-7 was efficiently absorbed from the fortified yogurt drink. Levels of circulating MK-7 were significantly increased from 0·28 to 1·94 ng/ml. In accordance, intake of the fortified yogurt drink improved vitamin K status, as measured by significant decreases in uncarboxylated osteocalcin and desphospho-uncarboxylated matrix Gla-protein. No effects were, however, seen on markers of inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and lipid metabolism. In summary, consumption of a yogurt drink fortified with low doses of among others MK-7 for 3 months significantly improved vitamin K status in a healthy population.

BACKGROUND: The interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) are a family of transcription factors known to be involved in the modulation of cellular responses to interferons (IFNs) and viral infection. While IRF-1 acts as a positive regulator, IRF-2 is known to repress IFN-mediated gene expression. The increase in the IRF-1/IRF-2 ratio is considered as an important event in the transcriptional activation of IFN-α gene toward development of the cellular antiviral response.
OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to assess the expression of IRF mRNAs along with the expression level of IFN-α, its receptor (IFNAR-1), and the signal transduction factor (STAT-1) in treatment naive hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected subjects.
METHODS: Thirty-five chronically infected (CHC) patients and 39 voluntary blood donors as controls were included in the study. Quantification of HCV-RNA (ribonucleic acid) and genotyping were done by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and hybridization assays, respectively, using patient\'s serum/plasma. In both controls and patients, the serum level of IFN-α and IFN-α was measured by flow cytometry. Target gene expressions were studied by retro-transcription of respective mRNAs extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) followed by PCR amplification and densitometry. Minus-strand HCV-RNA as a marker of viral replication in PBMCs was detected by an inhouse PCR assay.
RESULTS: Both IRF-1 and IRF-2 genes were significantly enhanced in CHC than in control subjects (P < 0.001). A significant positive correlation (r (2) = 0.386, P <0.01) was obtained between higher IRF-2 gene expression and increasing level of HCV-RNA. Chronically infected subjects (13%) harboring replicating HCV in PBMCs showed no significant differences in gene expressions than the subjects without HCV in PBMCs.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that HCV modulates host immunity by inducing IRF-2 gene to counteract IRF-1-mediated IFN-α gene expression. Since the IRF-2 gene is known to encode oncogenic protein, the role of IRF-2 in CHC patients developing hepatocellular carcinoma warrants further studies.