PBMC classification during the evolution of Coronary Artery Disease by Single-cell RNA sequencing

Coronary artery disease (CAD), the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, is a pathological process driven mainly by cholesterol and inflammation, which synergically act in damaging of the coronary artery tree. While cholesterol-lowering is a cornerstone of CAD therapeutics, inflammation reduction has yet to enter into clinical practice. Understanding the variety of the immune subpopulations contributing to CAD could help identify patients who could benefit the most from anti-inflammatory therapies. The aim of the current study was therefore to determine whether specific circulating inflammatory cells are associated with different degrees of coronary artery stenosis and to possibly identify a genetic inflammatory signature associated with disease progression