Review Cytokines and atherosclerosis: a comprehensive review of studies in mice

In the past few years, inflammation has emerged as a major driving force of atherosclerotic lesion devel-opment. It is now well-established that from early lesion to vulnerable plaque formation, numerous cel-lular and molecular inflammatory components participate in the disease process. The most prominent cells that invade in evolving lesions are monocyte-derived macrophages and T-lymphocytes. Both cell types produce a wide array of soluble inflammatory mediators (cytokines, chemokines) which are criti-cally important in the initiation and perpetuation of the disease. This review summarizes the currently available information from mouse studies on the contribution of a specified group of cytokines expresse