SCIENTISTS say that the way mice fight two of Scotland's biggest health concerns could pave the way for new life-saving treatments.
Experiments carried out by a team from the University of Glasgow spotted that the rodents' immune systems help protect them against clogged arteries, which can lead to stroke and heart disease.
Clogged arteries, or atherosclerosis, are caused by the gradual hardening and narrowing of blood vessels due to the build-up of 'bad' cholesterol deposits as plaque inside the vessel walls.
But the mice used in the study showed signs of fighting back by growing tiny tissues next to the plaque sites that prevent them from increasing.
The reasons for the build-up of plaques in vessel walls are not fully understood, and the process begins from an early age and is thought to be a natural part of ageing.
Poor diet, smoking, hypertension, diabetes and obesity can accelerate atherosclerosis but increasingly researchers have been scrutinising the role the systemic immune response plays in exacerbating the condition.
However, Glasgow researchers, who were part of a team led by academics from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, found that immune cells infiltrate the blood vessel walls and form tertiary lymphoid organs (TLOs) next to plaque sites that appear to protect against atherosclerosis.
This suggests that treatments should target the immune response in the TLOs as atherosclerosis could be related to vascular immune disease.
In 2013 there were 7,239 deaths in Scotland where coronary heart disease was the underlying cause, and it remains one of the country's biggest killers, although rates are falling.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, which helped fund the research, said: "This research, in mice, provides important new information about how the immune response to protect against atherosclerosis is tightly orchestrated by collections of immune cells close to the artery wall.
"If similar processes can be identified in people, these results have the potential to lead to new life-saving treatments and changes in clinical practice to help prevent heart attacks and strokes."
The work was supported by the German Research Council, the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research, the British Heart Foundation, the European Research Council and Medical Research Scotland.
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