Short-term delivery of anti-PlGF antibody delays progression of atherosclerotic plaques to vulnerable lesions

Aims: The vascular endothelial growth factor homologue placental growth factor (PlGF) is a pleiotropic cytokine, with a pro-inflammatory activity. Previous gene-inactivation studies revealed that loss of PlGF delays atherosclerotic lesion development and inhibits macrophage infiltration, but the activity of an anti-PlGF antibody (aPlGF mAb) has not been evaluated yet. Methods and Results: We characterized the potential of short-term delivery of aPlGF mAb in inhibiting lesion development in ApoE-deficient mice (apoE-/-) and in CD4:TGFßRIIDN x apoE-/- mice, a more severe atherosclerosis model. Short-term treatment of aPlGF mAb reduces early atherosclerotic plaque size and inflammatory cell infiltration in the lesion. Conclusions: These pharmacological aPlGF mAb results confirm previous genetic evidence that inhibition of PlGF slows down early atherosclerotic lesion development. Furthermore, the phenocopy of genetic and pharmacological loss-of-function strategies underscores that aPlGF acts by selectively neutralizing PlGF.

Publication year:2010

BOF-keylabel:yes

IOF-keylabel:yes

BOF-publication weight:6

CSS-citation score:2

Authors:International

Authors from:Private, Higher Education

Accessibility:Closed