Tag Archives: interleukin-6

Introduction Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Chronic subclinical inflammation is a key recognised process in the pathogenesis of CHD, and may play an important role in atherogenesis. Figure 1. Atherosclerotic plaque rupture Atherosclerosis is a complex multi-factorial disease process, which is initiated at the endothelium in response to various forms of injurious stimuli (shear stress, oxidative stress, arterial pressure changes) including inflammation. These factors appear to alter the endothelial cell’s capacity to maintain homeostasis and vascular tone and leads to the so-called endothelial ‘dysfun