Hi, I'm reading a paper where they're looking at the effects of inactivating IL-1 on the stability of the plaque and the vessel lumen area in advanced atherosclerosis. Now they've understandably knocked out the gene for the IL-1 receptor 1. But they've also knocked out the ApoE gene. Now I appreciate that ApoE protein packs and carries cholesterol so is KO of ApoE gene to stop the influencing of cholesterol on the study results or is it something else?
Does anyone have experience of these types of studies in mice please? Thank you.
From my (limited) knowledge in the subject, I think that mouse are not prone to spontaneously develop atherosclerosis even when fed with high fat diet. ApoE-/- background is therefore used as a standard model of atherosclerosis and plaque formation. A quick search on Pubmed should give you more detailed information, so good reading!
One of the reasons;
Article Interleukin-1 plays a major role in vascular inflammation an...