Clonal hematopoiesis associated with TET2 deficiency accelerates atherosclerosis development in mice

Abstract

Faulty blood cells and heart disease Recent studies have shown that elderly people's blood cells often harbor mutations in genes encoding certain epigenetic regulators. These mutations can lead to clonal expansion of the mutant blood cells, which increases the risk of blood cancers and cardiovascular disease. Fuster et al. generated a mouse model to investigate how one of these genes, Tet2 , affects atherosclerosis development (see the Perspective by Zhu et al. ). They found that the disease progressed more rapidly in mice transplanted with Tet2 -deficient bone marrow cells. This was due to increased secretion of interleukin-1β by Tet2 -deficient macrophages in a process that depended on the action of inflammasomes. Science , this issue p. 842 ; see also p. 798