title: Lymphatic vessels clean up your arteries.
abstract: Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) is the pathway by which cholesterol accumulated in peripheral tissues, including the artery wall, is transported to the liver for excretion. There is strong evidence suggesting that interventions that increase macrophage cholesterol efflux and RCT would be antiatherogenic. In this issue of the JCI, Martel et al. investigate the contribution of lymphatic vasculature to RCT. Their results support the concept that the lymphatic vessel route is critical for RCT from atherosclerotic plaques. Therefore, strategies to improve lymphatic transport might be useful for treating atherosclerotic vascular disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology and the Marc and Ruti Bell Vascular Biology and Disease Program, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA. carlos.fernandez-hernando@nyumc.org
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fernández-Hernando
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D042601:Lymphatic Vessels / Q000378:metabolism*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002784:Cholesterol