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Updated: Sep 30, 2025

Author Spotlight: Innovative Methods in Lymphedema and Hypertension Research
Published on: March 22, 2024
Lymphatics in Cardiovascular Physiology
Dakshnapriya Balasubbramanian1,2, Brett M Mitchell3
1Vascular Biology Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Abstract:
The lymphatic vessels play an essential role in maintaining immune and fluid homeostasis and in the transport of dietary lipids. The discovery of lymphatic endothelial cell-specific markers facilitated the visualization and mechanistic analysis of lymphatic vessels over the past two decades. As a result, lymphatic vessels have emerged as a crucial player in the pathogenesis of several cardiovascular diseases, as demonstrated by worsened disease progression caused by perturbations to lymphatic function. In this review, we discuss the major findings on the role of lymphatic vessels in cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, obesity, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and heart failure.
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