RESEARCH ARTICLE
Expanded Network of Inflammatory Markers of Atherogenesis: Where Are We Now?
Seyed Hesameddin Abbasi1, 2, Mohammad Ali Boroumand2, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2010Volume: 4
First Page: 38
Last Page: 44
Publisher ID: TOCMJ-4-38
DOI: 10.2174/1874192401004010038
Article History:
Received Date: 7/11/2009Revision Received Date: 20/11/2009
Acceptance Date: 10/12/2009
Electronic publication date: 23/2/2010

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/), which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Inflammatory biomarkers play a pivotal role in atherosclerotic lesions. The plasma levels of these markers are predictive of adverse outcomes such as myocardial infarction and cardiovascular death. The immune system is involved at all stages of atherogenesis via activation of monocytes/macrophages and T lymphocytes.Circulating proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines produced by these cells interact with specific receptors on various cells and activate specific signaling pathways, leading to inflammation-induced atherosclerotic lesions. Recent studies have focused on predictive value of inflammatory biomarkers such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6. These biomarkers were shown to be associated with poor quality of life and predictive of adverse events in coronary atherosclerosis and left ventricular dysfunction. Vascular predictive value of other numerous inflammatory markers is being investigated. We herein analyze the role of several mediators of inflammation, affecting vascular functions and leading toward atherosclerotic lesions.