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Brief description/objective

The importance of chronic inflammatory processes in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases is now widely recognized. Atherosclerosis and autoimmune myocarditis are prototypical diseases illustrating the detrimental effects of constant immune activation within the cardiovas-cular system. Activated T helper (Th) cells that recognize mainly cardiovascular self-antigens contribute crucially to the maintenance of the chronic inflammation seen in these diseases. Likewise, chronic (vascular) rejection of solid organ transplants is characterized by a persistent activation of both helper and cytotoxic T cells that elicit and maintain the injurious blood vessel-associated inflammatory process. With this study, we expect to provide a detailed analysis of the factors that influence the decision making process between T cell activation versus T cell tolerization in the context of cardiovascular immunopathologies. These studies will not only im-prove our insight into the basic immunological mechanisms underlying chronic inflammatory processes within the cardiovascular system, but may also permit the evaluation of treatment strategies that could help to specifically tone down the detrimental consequences of chronic immune activation in cardiovascular diseases.