Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases, as a result of atherosclerosis, are the leading cause of mortality in the world. Atherosclerosis used to be considered as a degenerative impairment of the artery wall.
Nevertheless, it is presently rather regarded as an autoimmune process with the involvement of both innate and adaptive immunity. Recently, it was demonstrated that the cardiovascular risk is increased in autoimmune diseases.
In the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in chronic inflammatory diseases both traditional and non-traditional risk factors are important. Despite the fact that chronic inflammatory diseases are generally considered as nonfatal disorders, they are associated with an increased cardiovascular mortality, probably due to accelerated atherosclerosis.