Inhibition and regression of atherosclerotic lesions.

Atherosclerosis, once believed to be a result of a slow, irreversible process resulting from lipid accumulation in arterial walls, is now recognized as a dynamic process with reversibility. Liver-directed gene therapy for dyslipidemia aims to treat patients who are not responsive to currently available primary and secondary prevention. Moreover, gene therapy strategies have also proved valuable in studying the dynamics of atherosclerotic lesion formation, progression, and remodeling in experimental animals. Recent results on the long-term effect of gene therapy suggest that hepatic expression of therapeutic genes suppresses inflammation and has profound effects on the nature of the atherogenic process.