Expression of CD151 in human atherosclerotic artery and its implication.

To investigate the expression of CD151 in human atherosclerosed artery and explore its clinical implications, Western blot and immunohistochemical techniques were used to determine the protein expression of CD151 in arterial tissues with atherosclerosis taken from 36 patients, including 26 cases who received bypass operation for peripheral artery atherosclerosis and 6 cases who died from coronary heart disease. The expression of CD151 in normal artery tissues from 15 healthy organ donators were also measured to serve as control. The results showed that expression of CD151 protein in atherosclerotic arteries was significantly higher than that in normal artery. In atherosclerotic arteries, CD151 expression was localized in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in all tunica media and in partial subintima, while in normal artery, sparse expression was found in tunica media near adventitia. It is concluded that high CD151 protein expression in artery is associated with atherosclerosis and CD151 plays an important role in the atherosclerosis related to VSMC. The expression of CD151 in human atherosclerotic artery depends on the extent of atherosclerotic damage, it's independent of risk factors.