ATHEROSCLEROSIS AND THE ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID SYNDROME - A LINK UNRAVELED

Atherosclerosis is a multifactorial disease that involves the arterial system. Recent data suggest that immune and autoimmune factors play a dominant role in mediating the progression of atherosclerosis. Among these factors, humoral response to modified forms of LDL and heat-shoc k proteins has been shown to be influential. The antiphospholipid synd rome (APS) entails clinical manifestations that result from a hypercoa gulable state. Antibodies to phospholipids and to beta(2)-glycoprotein I have been suggested to confer the tendency to thrombosis. In a set of recent studies. we have been able to show that generation of antiph ospholipid antibodies in mice is associated with enhanced atherosclero sis. These findings imply that APS and atherosclerosis may share a com mon etiologic background, which may have direct implications for the m anagement of both conditions.