New approaches to the prevention of atherosclerosis

Abstract

In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis. However, much of the research has been devoted to the investigation of lipid metabolism and lipid-lowering drugs. This review highlights some recent topics in both experimental and clinical investigations, with emphasis on studies other than those on lipid-lowering drugs. These topics include oxidative modification of lipoproteins, hyperfibrinogenaemia, hyperhomocysteinaemia, female sex hormones and endothelium-derived relaxing factor (or nitric oxide). Some of these approaches have already been applied in the clinic.