Cholesterol oxidation products and fibrogenesis

Oxidatively modified low density lipoproteins (oxLDL) are known to affect various cellular processes by modulating molecolar transduction pathways and signaling nuclear transcription [1,2]. In particular, the proinflammatory and proatherosclerotic effects of oxLDL are increasingly supported by a multitude of independent but consistent experimental studies. LDL oxidation might be a sequencial process where their lipid moieties are progressively but discretely oxidized, preceding the oxidation/modification of the apolipoprotein domain, an effect that can ultimately result in the uncontrolled uptake of these particles by cells, such as macrophages, and conversion of them to foam cells which is a hallmark of early atherogenesis [3]. These lipoproteins appear to trigger a variety of events which are strongly implicated in the atherogenesis, the pathological process underlying vascular disease.