Cross-Talk of Atherosclerosis and Ischemic Stroke: Dramatic Role of Neutrophils

Current investigations illustrate the increasing prevalence of atherosclerosis (AS) through the aggravating role of inappropriate lifestyle patterns. Atherosclerosis is the cause of important vascular-related diseases such as ischemic stroke (IS). Understanding AS pathophysiology can help reduce the incidence of AS-mediated diseases like ischemic stroke.

For this narrative review article, we used the five mega databases of PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Springer, and Science Direct. We searched from 2010 Jan to 2020 Dec and based on keywords and inclusion criteria, 77 articles were enrolled.

Based on prior articles on atherosclerosis and ischemic stroke pathophysiology, local and systemic inflammation is a vigorous factor in both diseasesIndeed, the fundamental inflammatory pathway involved atherosclerosis, and ischemic stroke is associated with the toll-like receptor 4/myeloid differentiation primary response 88/nuclear factor-kappa B (TLR4/ Myd88/ NF-κB) cascade. The functional paw of these intricatemechanisms are pro-inflammatorymediators, such as interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and interleukin-18 (IL-18) incite inflammation. Besides, the essential structures termed inflammasomes (multi proteins components), and multiplicity of immune and non-immune cells (i.e., neutrophils, monocytes, platelets, and macrophages) are beneficial in the induction of inflammatory microenvironment.

Neutrophils could be the most effective cells in the inflammation-based mechanism in IS and AS. It is clarified that neutrophils with the recruitment of own vesicles and granules can afford to amplify inflammatory conditions and be a key cell in AS and IS cross-talk. Therefore, utilizing methods to control neutrophils-mediated mechanisms could be an effective method for the prevention of AS and IS.