Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
156926 
Journal Article 
Atherosclerosis--an inflammatory disease 
Ross, R 
1999 
1 
New England Journal of Medicine
ISSN: 0028-4793
EISSN: 1533-4406 
340 
2 
115-126 
English 
Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. Because high plasma concentrations of cholesterol, in particular those of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, are one of the principal risk factors for atherosclerosis,1 the process of atherogenesis has been considered by many to consist largely of the accumulation of lipids within the artery wall; however, it is much more than that. Despite changes in lifestyle and the use of new pharmacologic approaches to lower plasma cholesterol concentrations,2,3 cardiovascular disease continues to be the principal cause of death in the United States, Europe, and much of Asia.4,5 In fact, the lesions of atherosclerosis represent a series 
Arteriosclerosis/etiology/pathology; Blood Platelets/physiology; Endothelium, Vascular/immunology/physiopathology; Hypercholesterolemia/complications; Hyperhomocysteinemia/complications; Hypertension/complications; Inflammation; Lipoproteins, LDL/physiology; Monocytes/physiology; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular/anatomy & histology; T-Lymphocytes/physiology