Should atherosclerosis be considered a cancer of the vascular wall?

Abstract

Atherosclerosis and cancer are the leading causes of death in industrialized society. Although atherosclerosis has been considered to be multi-factorial disease in which genetic, environmental, and other factors have been implicated, the gaps remain in our knowledge of the etiopathogenesis as well as features of atherosclerosis. However, Numerous data suggested that the some characteristics of atherosclerosis were similar as a cancer. Should atherosclerosis be considered a cancer of the vascular wall? A large number of data have showed that both cancer and atherosclerosis are characterized by a local increase in tissue mass that may be hard to control, and appears that the disease state of atherosclerosis and cancer might share a common etiology. More recently, a series of molecular markers and gene-regulating pathways have been associated with disease development and progression common in both atherosclerosis and cancer. These chronic diseases appear to be multi-staged in their progression, with genetic, nutritional, psycho-social, environmental and viral factors influencing their appearances. In addition, the experimental and clinical studies on atherosclerosis and cancer have also showed common pathogenic mechanisms of clotting system. Furthermore, emerging novel therapeutic strategies have similarly targeted both atherosclerosis and cancer, including reducing oxidative stress; inhibiting chemokine, cytokine, and growth factor cell signal transmit; down-regulating excess matrix digestion; inactivating nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) signal pathway, interfering cell cycle regulation, applying radiation treatment for controlling expansion and invasion of both atherosclerosis and cancer. Based on those previous observations, a hypothesis has been proposed that atherosclerosis and cancer may represent variants of a common disease entity. In the other word, atherosclerosis may be just a cancer of vascular wall. In the future, it is likely that the shared features of atherosclerosis and cancer will not only become clinically significant but also stimulate therapeutic strategies for clinical applications.