Inflamación y arteriosclerosis

Inflammation plays an important role in the onset, progression and complication of arterosclerotic disease. Epidemiologic and clinical studies have demonstrated a close relationship between inflammation markers and the risk of suffering future cardiovascular events, both in apparently healthy subjects as in patients with chronic and acute syndromes. Different cardiovascular risk factors such as hyperlipidemia or hypertension and perhaps chronic infections (for example peridontal infections) precipitate a chronic inflammatory reaction in the arterial vascular wall. Due to this, vulnerable plaques are developed with predisposition to rupture and thrombosis. In fact, the arteriosclerotic lesions have an elevated degree of infiltration of inflammatory cell components (monocytes/macrophages, T-cells) and acute rupture of the plaques is associated to inflammatory reactions. Better knowledge of the cell and molecular mechanisms that relate inflammation and atherosclerosis will not only lead to better knowledge of this disease but also may improve prognostic risk stratification and identification of new therapeutic targets.