Abstract
Atherosclerosis and its derived cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death in the western world. The treatment of atherosclerosis is currently based on lipid lowering in combination with anti-inflammatory therapies that slow the progression of atherosclerosis. Still, these therapies are not able to fully inhibit the formation or progression of atherosclerotic lesions. Ever since it was first demonstrated that the immunological system plays an important role during atherogenesis, various different immunotherapeutic approaches have been evaluated with promising results. Notwithstanding that, one of the difficulties in developing effective vaccination strategies for atherosclerosis is the selection of a specific target. So far, vaccination strategies have been based on the targeting of lipid antigens, inflammation-derived antigens, and cell-based vaccination strategies. More recently, strategies aimed at blocking the retention of low-density lipoproteins by arterial proteoglycans have emerged as a promising tool. In the study at hand we reviewed the most relevant advances on atherosclerosis immunotherapy cited in the PubMed database from 1980 to 2012.
Highlights
Atherosclerosis is a chronic arterial disease that causes myocardial and cerebral infarctions, leading causes of death in the western world
Several hypotheses have been accepted since Steinberg and coworkers enunciated the oxidative hypothesis in 1989 [2, 3], in which they postulated that reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation is closely associated with atherosclerosis development
The authors do claim an effect on plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels, which increased by 25%, while total cholesterol levels remained similar when compared to baseline levels
Summary
Atherosclerosis is a chronic arterial disease that causes myocardial and cerebral infarctions, leading causes of death in the western world. The treatment of atherosclerosis is currently based on lipid lowering in combination with anti-inflammatory therapies that slow the progression of atherosclerosis. After it was demonstrated that the immunological system plays an important role during atherogenesis, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory strategies have become the preferred emerging treatments to target the root causes of the disease. Additional immunotherapeutic approaches have been recently evaluated with promising results [9,10,11,12,13,14,15] The purpose of these therapies has been to interfere with lipoprotein metabolism [16], and to modulate specific immune responses that play key roles in the development of the inflammatory process involved in the pathogenesis of the disease [17, 18]. The purpose here is to examine the state-of-the-art and recent advances in atherosclerosis immunotherapy, focusing on more recent and relevant advances in this field (see Table 1)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
