Depuydt and Schaftenaar et al. profile the T cell clonality in patients with atherosclerosis by performing single-cell T cell receptor sequencing on carotid artery plaques and matched peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples. The analyses showed plaque-specific clonal expansion in effector CD4+ T cells, expressing genes indicative of exposure to activating antigens, thus suggesting that atherosclerosis has an autoimmune component driven by autoreactive CD4+ T cells.
- Marie A. C. Depuydt
- Frank H. Schaftenaar
- Bram Slütter
