Relationship between cell components in human coronary atherosclerosis plaque and stability of plaque

    GUO Aiª²Tao, SHI Huaiª²Yin, WEI Liª²Xin, SUN Lu

    Department of Pathology, PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To evaluate the relationship between the plaque stability and the cell components in human coronary atherosclerosis plaque and to investigate the interrelation of cell components. METHODS: One hundred and twentyª²five cases of coronary cardiac diseases including acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina and stable angina, who died in recent 12 years and had full data, were selected. The coronary arteries of each case were transversely cut, embedded and stained with HE. After observing and analyzing the morphologic features, parts of the coronary artery segments were selected for immunohistochemical staining of 6 markers against ¦Áª²smooth muscle actin (SMA), CD20, CD3, CD68, HLAª²DR and mast cell tryptase. RESULTS: More macrophages, T lymphocytes and mast cells were observed infiltrated in unstable plaque and smooth muscle cells were more common in stable plaque. A significant negative correlation was found between the expression of SMA and CD68, CD3, tryptase. CONCLUSION: The decrease in the number of smooth muscle cells and the increase in the number of macrophages, T lymphocytes and mast cells may be the major pathologic mechanism responsible for plaque instability. The infiltration of macrophages, T lymphocytes and mast cells is closely related to the decrease of smooth muscle cells in plaque. ......