Clinical Advances in Immunonutrition and Atherosclerosis: A Review

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a chronic low-grade inflammatory disease that affects large and medium-sized arteries and is considered to be a major underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The high risk of mortality by atherosclerosis has led to the development of new strategies for disease prevention and management, including immunonutrition. Plant-based dietary patterns, functional foods, dietary supplements, and bioactive compounds such as the Mediterranean Diet, berries, polyunsaturated fatty acids, ω-3 and ω-6, vitamins E, A, C, and D, coenzyme Q10, as well as phytochemicals including isoflavones, stilbenes, and sterols have been associated with improvement in atheroma plaque at an inflammatory level. However, many of these correlations have been obtained in vitro and in experimental animals' models. On one hand, the present review focuses on the evidence obtained from epidemiological, dietary intervention and supplementation studies in humans supporting the role of immunonutrient supplementation and its effect on anti-inflammatory response in atherosclerotic disease. On the other hand, this review also analyzes the possible molecular mechanisms underlying the protective action of these supplements, which may lead a novel therapeutic approach to prevent or attenuate diet-related disease, such as atherosclerosis.

Pathophysiology of atherosclerosis: Association of risk factors and treatment strategies using plant‐based bioactive compounds

“…Endogenous antioxidants include SOD, glutathione (GSH), thioreductase, catalase, GSH peroxidase, and uric acid. Dietary sources of antioxidants are vitamin C, E, and carotenoids, while among therapeutic agents, N ‐acetyl cysteine, and allopurinol are well‐known antioxidants (Goszcz et al., 2015; Ruiz‐León, Lapuente, Estruch, & Casas, 2019). The aim of using antioxidant as treatment approach against atherosclerotic patients should be ensuring improvement in the tissues and plasma levels of antioxidant along with suppression of oxidative stress (Violi, Micheletta, & Iuliano, 2002).…”

Getting to the Heart of the Matter: The Role of Regulatory T-Cells (Tregs) in Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and Atherosclerosis

“…It is not only SCFA which have been associated with atherosclerosis; evidence suggests that certain vitamin intake is beneficial in preventing CVD. Vitamin A, C, E, and K deficiencies are all associated with increased CVD (50). Dietary sources of vitamin A are mainly retinol and retinyl esters from animal origin or, from plant sources provitamin A carotenoids which comprise numerous isomers of β-carotene (51).…”

Activation of CXCR7 promotes endothelial repair and reduces the carotid atherosclerotic lesions through inhibition of pyroptosis signaling pathways

“…Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease and the dominant pathology of diverse cardiovascular diseases (GBD 2016 Lifetime Risk of Stroke Collaborators, 1990; Pourcet & Staels, 2018). It occurs mainly at lesion‐prone areas of large‐ and medium‐sized artery and manifests with oxidized low‐density lipoprotein (ox‐LDL) and accumulated in the intima of arteries (Kattoor, Kanuri, & Mehta, 2018; Ruiz‐Leon, Lapuente, Estruch, & Casas, 2019; Song, 2018; Wang, 2019). This may cause intima‐media thickening and lumenal stenosis and further give rise to several adverse vascular events, like myocardial infarction, coronary disease, stroke, or peripheral artery disease (Shah, Bajaj, Virk, Bikkina, & Shamoon, 2015).…”