The inflammatory process underlying atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is considered an inflammatory disease that starts and evolves in response to cholesterol accumulation in the arterial intima of the large and medium arteries. In recent years, new insights into innate immunity have changed our understanding of the events that initiate and drive inflammation, changing many concepts about pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders and on the susceptibility to infections. This review summarizes some of the current concepts on innate immunity and rearranges old and new data on pathogenesis in atherosclerosis to shed light on the disease with a new inflammatory view.