Implication of mononuclear phagocytes in chronique inflammatory disorders : investigation of a atherosclerotic mouse model and the xanthogranuloma in humans
Chronic inflammatory diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide with a significant proportion of heart disease and other lipid-inflammatory disorders such as atherosclerosis. Thus, understanding the mechanisms involved in the initiation but also the resolution of these diseases is a major issue in public health. Our work on the involvement of mononuclear phagocytes in murine models of atherosclerosis show that modulating the half-life of cell subtypes of the immune system can limit the development of the pathology. These results are associated with an overall decrease of the inflammation in animals and an improvement of lipid metabolism.Thus, modulating the actors of inflammation within the immune system may be a new therapeutic target complementary to the cholesterol-lowering drugs today.To this end, we realized the most important characterization of a human pathology: the xanthogranuloma. Patients show an association between dysregulation of lipid metabolism and inflammation of the skin supported by the macrophages and dendritic cells. Treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin infusions in a patient shows an overall reduction of inflammation, normalization of blood cell actors which results in improved clinical symptoms of the disease.