Philip M Carlucci, Monica M Purmalek, Amit K Dey, Yenealem Temesgen-Oyelakin, Simantini Sakhardande, Aditya A Joshi, Joseph B Lerman, Alice Fike, Michael Davis, Jonathan H Chung, Martin P Playford, Mohammad Naqi, Pragnesh Mistry, Gustavo Gutierrez-Cruz, Stefania Dell'Orso, Faiza Naz, Taufiq Salahuddin, Balaji Natarajan, Zerai Manna, Wanxia L Tsai, Sarthak Gupta, Peter Grayson, Heather Teague, Marcus Y Chen, Hong-Wei Sun, Sarfaraz Hasni, Nehal N Mehta, Mariana J Kaplan
BACKGROUND: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with enhanced risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease not explained by Framingham risk score (FRS). Immune dysregulation associated to a distinct subset of lupus proinflammatory neutrophils (low density granulocytes; LDGs) may play key roles in conferring enhanced CV risk. This study assessed if lupus LDGs are associated with in vivo vascular dysfunction and inflammation and coronary plaque. METHODS: SLE subjects and healthy controls underwent multimodal phenotyping of vascular disease by quantifying vascular inflammation (18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-PET/CT [18F-FDG-PET/CT]), arterial dysfunction (EndoPAT and cardio-ankle vascular index), and coronary plaque burden (coronary CT angiography)...
April 19, 2018: JCI Insight