Mouse aorta smooth muscle cells differentiate into lymphoid tissue organizer-like cells on combined tumor necrosis factor receptor-1/lymphotoxin beta-receptor NF-kappaB signaling.

Objective: Mouse aorta smooth muscle cells (SMC) express tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 1A (TNFR-1) and lymphotoxin beta-receptor (LTbetaR). Circumstantial evidence has linked the SMC LTbetaR to tertiary lymphoid organogenesis in hyperlipidemic mice. Here, we explored TNFR-1 and LTbetaR signaling in cultured SMC.

Lymphotoxin beta receptor signaling promotes tertiary lymphoid organogenesis in the aorta adventitia of aged ApoE-/- mice.

Atherosclerosis involves a macrophage-rich inflammation in the aortic intima. It is increasingly recognized that this intimal inflammation is paralleled over time by a distinct inflammatory reaction in adjacent adventitia. Though cross talk between the coordinated inflammatory foci in the intima and the adventitia seems implicit, the mechanism(s) underlying their communication is unclear.