Emerging Therapies for the Treatment of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: From Bench to Bedside

Abstract

Primarily a consequence of sedentary lifestyle, atherosclerosis has already reached pandemic proportions, and with every year the burden of it is only increasing. As low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) represents a crucial factor in atherosclerosis formation and progression, stringent lipid-lowering therapy could conceivably be the key to preventing the unfavorable outcomes that arise as a consequence of atherosclerosis. The use of statins in lipid-lowering is often burdened by adverse events or is insufficient to prevent cardiovascular events as a monotherapy. Therefore, in the present review, the authors aimed to discuss the underlying mechanisms of dyslipidemia and associated atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and preclinical and clinical trials of novel therapeutic approaches to its treatment, some of which are still in the early stages of development. Apart from novel therapies, a novel change in perspective is needed. Specifically, the critical objective in the future management of ASCVD is to embrace emerging evidence in the field of atherosclerosis, because clinicians are often burden by common practice and personal experience, both of which have so far been shown to be futile in the setting of atherosclerosis.

Keywords

• atherosclerosis
• cholesterol
• inflammation
• therapy
• statins
• bempedoic acid