Влияние воспаления и мутаций митохондриального генома на клеточные механизмы атерогенеза

Atherosclerosis is a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases. It is responsible for heart attacks and strokes due to the critical narrowing of the arteries. Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease that affects various arteries in the human body. The pathological process is accompanied by the focal thickening of the intima of the affected arteries. The last contributes to plaques building up as the disease progresses. The exploration of atherosclerotic mosaicism, either local or focal, is regarded as one of the most promising research areas. Many hypotheses have been suggested to explain this phenomenon. We suppose that mosaic atherosclerotic lesions are caused by genetic variations. Variations in the nuclear and mitochondrial genes of the arterial wall cells affect the development of atherosclerosis. The presence of these variations may be considered as novel markers suggesting the disease predisposition, its progression, and potential prognosis.