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[Atherosclerosis. Old problem, new perspectives]
1Departamento de Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
Insights
Atherosclerosis, a leading cause of death, is now understood as an inflammatory process. Research is shifting focus from hypercholesterolemia to the arterial wall's inflammatory response.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Science
- Immunology
- Pathophysiology
Context:
- Atherosclerosis is a primary cause of mortality in developed nations.
- Historically, hypercholesterolemia research dominated atherosclerosis studies.
- Recent findings link atherosclerosis to normolipidemic subjects, dysmetabolic features, and infections.
Purpose:
- To re-evaluate the pathophysiological archetypes of atherosclerosis.
- To incorporate atherosclerosis into the classification of inflammatory processes.
- To highlight the inflammatory response in arterial wall aggression as a key research area.
Summary:
- The understanding of atherosclerosis has evolved significantly.
- While hypercholesterolemia was once the central focus, current research acknowledges its occurrence in normolipidemic individuals.
- Emerging evidence implicates dysmetabolic features and infectious agents, leading to its reclassification as an inflammatory condition.
Impact:
- This paradigm shift redefines atherosclerosis research and laboratory follow-up.
- It emphasizes the inflammatory response to arterial wall injury as a critical area for investigation.
- The new perspective offers novel avenues for understanding and potentially treating atherosclerosis.
Abstract:
Atherosclerosis is the major cause of mortality in the population of the, so called, developed countries of western culture. Since the first half of this century, hypercholesterolemia was the hallmark for the investigation of atherosclerosis, improving the level of knowledge about the complex metabolism of lipoproteins. The occurrence of atherosclerosis in normolipidaemic subjects, and the relationship between this illness, other dysmetabolic features and certain infectious agents, led to the reformulation, in the last decade, of the pathophysiological archtypes, atherosclerosis was included in the group of the inflammatory processes. The inflammatory response to aggression of the arterial wall is the innovative issue of atherosclerosis investigation and laboratory follow-up in the new millennium.