Viral infection and atherosclerosis

Abstract

AbstractSeveral risk factors have been described for the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Infectious diseases are suggested to be acausative factor, and some viruses have been studied for their relation with atherosclerotic diseases. Studies report two hypotheses,direct and indirect effects, for the role of viral infections in atherogenesis. Viruses are able to initiate atherosclerosis by twodifferent pathways. They can exert their direct effects on atherogenesis by infecting vascular cells and then inducing inflammationin the endotheliumand smooth muscle cells. Alternatively, they can also apply indirect effects by infecting non-vascular cellsand inducing systemic inflammation. In this review, we consider the available data about the effects and correlations of DNA andRNA viruses on atherosclerosis.Keywords Viral infection . Atherosclerosis . Inflammatio