title: [Atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis].
abstract: There is growing evidence that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at higher risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) including myocardial infarction and stroke. Recent analysis indicate that CVD is the most common cause of death in RA; however research on traditional risk factors such as smoking, hypertension or elevated cholesterol level has shown mixed results. There are many convincing suggestions that RA-specific factors associated with systemic inflammation may play a critical role in endothelial cell damage and accelerated development of atherosclerosis. Since atherosclerosis is currently recognized as a chronic inflammatory condition that can be converted into an acute clinical event by plaque rupture and thrombosis--the interplay between inflammatory mediators including cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-1, IL-6), C-reactive protein, blood coagulation factors and vessel wall cells attracts much attention. Their pivotal role in the pathogenesis of both diseases, RA and atherosclerosis has been presented and discussed in our review.
authors.affiliation: Zakład Reumatologii i Balneologii, Collegium Medicum, Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków. zruj@mp.pl
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Löwenhoff
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Głuszko
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines