title: Low expression of ferroxidases is implicated in the iron retention in human atherosclerotic plaques.
abstract: The effect of iron on the progress of atherosclerosis is still controversial. To explore the relationship between atherosclerotic plaques and iron metabolism and how iron is accumulated in plaque macrophages, we performed Oil red O staining to detect the lipid of the atherosclerotic plaques, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect the intracellular lipids (total cholesterol, free cholesterol) and serum hepcidin, Western-blot to examine the iron-related proteins, immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence assays to localize ferroportin 1 in macrophages. The contents of serum iron and transferrin saturation were measured. The results confrimed that atherosclerotic plaques were all lipid-rich. Compared to normal vessel wall, atherosclerotic plaques had significantly higher levels of ferritin and ferroportin 1. Strikingly, we found the much lower levels of ferroxidases ceruloplasmin and hephaestin in plaque tissue than the normal vessel, while the content of serum hepcidin, iron and transferrin saturation were similar in these two groups. The novel finding suggests that the inability of ferrous iron to be oxidized into ferric iron might be a potential mechanism for iron retention in plaques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Surgery, Drum Tower Clinical Medical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiajie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Surgery, Drum Tower Clinical Medical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, PR China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, PR China.
authors.forename: Shuangying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Surgery, Drum Tower Clinical Medical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, PR China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, PR China. Electronic address: likuanyu@nju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Kuanyu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Surgery, Drum Tower Clinical Medical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, PR China; Department of Vascular Surgery, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University, Nanjing, PR China. Electronic address: qiaotongmail@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qiao
mesh_terms: D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D002570:Ceruloplasmin / Q000378:metabolism*; D015536:Down-Regulation; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism
chemical_list: D007501:Iron; D002570:Ceruloplasmin
keywords: Atherosclerotic plaque; Ceruloplasmin; Ferroportin 1; Hephaestin; Iron retention