Inflammation and Cardiovascular Disease: The Future

Abstract

Despite considerable advances in reducing the global burden of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease by targeting conventional risk factors, significant residual risk remains, with low-grade inflammation being one of the strongest risk modifiers. Inflammatory processes within the arterial wall or systemic circulation, which are driven in a large part by modified lipoproteins but subsequently trigger a hypercoagulable state, are a hallmark of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and, in particular, its clinical complications. Extending conventional guideline-based clinical risk stratification algorithms by adding biomarkers of inflammation may refine phenotypic screening, improve risk stratification and guide treatment eligibility in cardiovascular disease prevention. The integration of interventions aimed at lowering the inflammatory burden, alone or in combination with aggressive lipid-modifying or even antithrombotic agents, for those at high cardiovascular risk may hold the potential to reduce the still substantial burden of cardiometabolic disease. This review provides perspectives on future clinical research in atherosclerosis addressing the tight interplay between inflammation, lipid metabolism and thrombosis, and its translation into clinical practice.