The Fourteenth Washington International Spring Symposium, held in
Washington, D.C., in June 1994, brought together over 400 leading
scientists from 21 countries to review and update research on
cardiovascular disease. This group satisfied the symposium goals of
formulating a more comprehensive and integrated picture of the events
contributing to atherosclerosis and of exploring modified gene
expression as an to understanding the causes of atherosclerosis and
providing clues to the approach prevention and treatment. This volume
contains most of the papers presented at the eight plenary sessions
together with selected contributions from the special sessions. The
multidisciplinary nature of the chapters and their authors should
stimulate the interests of biochemists, cell and molecular biologists,
pathologists, pharmacologists, epidemiologists, nutritionists, and
clinicians. The volume is divided into eight sections which reflect the
focus of the plenary sessions. Part I focuses on the pathophysiology of
atherosclerotic plaques and predicts that the nature of the fibrous cap
of atheroma determines plaque disruption and clinical events. Papers in
Part II deal with atherogenic lipoproteins. The introductory paper
reviews the current view of the role of plasma lipoproteins in
atherosclerosis. With respect to the newer members on the list:
[oxidized LDL, Lp(a)] evidence is provided that suggests the
involvement of one major gene in the development of oxidized LDL lipids.
the expression of inflammatory genes, and the development of aortic
fatty streaks.