RESEARCH ARTICLE Anti-atherosclerotic functi

in increased expression of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1Shenyang 110840, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Atherosclerosis is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world and is characterized by multifactorial and multistep processes. Atherosclerosis is known to be a chronic in-flammatory disease, although its pathophysiological mechanisms remain elusive [1]. The adhesion of circulat-ing leukocytes to the endothelium is an important cellular response to inflammation. Endothelial cells express an array of adhesion molecules that mediate the process of leukocyte attachment to the vascular wall during inflam-mation [2]. Leukocyte-endothelium interactions require regulation of the expression of various adhesion molecules by endothelial cells, such as vascular cell adhesion mol-ecule-1 (VCAM-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) [3]. Proinflammatory mediators such as inter-leukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α can promote the activation of endothelial cells in the early stages of the inflammatory process. Activation on endothelial cell