The Role of Monocytes and Macrophages in Human Atherosclerosis, Plaque Neoangiogenesis, and Atherothrombosis

Table 3

Summary of the main findings on the relation between monocytes/macrophages and human atherosclerosis.

Monocyte/macrophage population	Cardiovascular events	Imaging features of vulnerability	Histologic features of vulnerability	Neovascularization
Total monocytes	+	NA	NA	+
Circulating CD14^hiCD16^-	NA	NA	NA	++
Circulating CD14^hiCD16^+	+	+	NA	NA
TLR4^+ monocytes	—	NA	NA	NA
M1 macrophages	++	+	+++	NA
M2 macrophages	NA	NA	++	NA

A plus (+) represents a strong clinical evidence in favor of the association, while a minus (-) represents the failure of a well-designed study to establish an association. NA: not available.