Gordon Francis

[Gordon Francis @Gordon23Francis]

@HaoYin20 @MaAlfaidi @SAllahverdian Macrophages take up modified lipoproteins in an unregulated way almost irrespective of how much lipid they already have, until they die! Others may comment more about this

[Gordon Francis @Gordon23Francis]

@MaAlfaidi Big questions! We think SMCs become foam cells in the deep intima at least initially due to higher proteigkcan production by the SMCs there and lipoprotein retention

[Gordon Francis @Gordon23Francis]

@MaAlfaidi @SAllahverdian SMCs have scavenger receptors like macrophages but they never become professional macrophages in function despite expressing some macrophage protein markers

[Hao Yin @HaoYin20]

@MaAlfaidi @Gordon23Francis @SAllahverdian Cool! Differential intracellular lipid handling in SMCs vs macrophages😎 A big step towards understanding if SMC-derived foam cell can be tamed as an adaptive process to pacify atherogenesis👏

[Gordon Francis @Gordon23Francis]

@HaoYin20 @MaAlfaidi @SAllahverdian Yes SMC foam cells definitely a separate category of foam cells and we think a novel target for treatment