Summary
In addition to its preeminent role in fibrinolysis, the plasminogen system is believed
to play a key role in mediating cell migration. Leukocyte migration into the vessel
wall is a key and early event in the development of the lesions of atherosclerosis
and restenosis, pathologies which may be viewed as specific examples of vascular inflammatory
responses. The development of mice in which the plasminogen gene has been inactivated
affords an opportunity to test the contribution of plasminogen in leukocyte migration
during in vivo. This article summarizes recent studies conducted in murine models
of the inflammatory repsonse, restenosis and atherosclerosis in which leukocyte migration,
and in particular monocyte/macrophage migration, has been evaluated in plasminogen-deficient
mice. Recruitment of these cells through the vessel wall in inflammatory response
models and into the vessel wall in restenosis and transplant atherosclerosis models
is substantially blunted. These data implicate plasminogen in the migration of leukocytes
in these murine models. With the numerous correlations between components and/or activation
of the plasminogen system in restenosis and atherosclerosis, these results also support
a role of plasminogen in the corresponding human pathologies.
Key words
Leukocytes - macrophages - smooth muscle cells - inflammation