title: Destruction of elastic tissue (elastolysis) as a link between atherosclerosis and the temporal arteritis/polymyalgia rheumatica syndrome. Observations on an actinic factor in vascular disease.
abstract: Destruction (elastolysis) of the internal elastic lamina is frequently observed near early atherosclerotic plaques. Elastolysis and plaque formation are also found together in the temporal arteritis/polymyalgia rheumatica syndrome. Could it be that atherosclerosis and the syndrome are more closely akin than usually thought, with elastolysis acting as the pathogenetic link between them? A kinship of this nature is in accord with the growing recognition that elastin-related autoimmunity prevails in both these forms of vascular disease. A case can also be made out for the belief that the autoimmune reactions in internal vessels may be provoked by events in the integument where a slow but ultimately massive turnover of dermal and vascular elastic tissue takes place under the harmful influence of solar and other forms of actinic radiation.
mesh_terms: D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004547:Elastic Tissue / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013700:Giant Cell Arteritis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D011111:Polymyalgia Rheumatica / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology