Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. This article reviews the emergence of this
concept from studies of patients and their lesions, experimental animal models, and
epidemiological cohorts. Immunohistochemical studies identified immune cells and
mediators and provided evidence for inflammatory activation in the atherosclerotic lesion. In
parallel, cell culture studies demonstrated the capacity of vascular cells to interact with
immune cells. Subsequent studies of clinical and epidemiological materials have identified …