Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Exp Med. Aug 20, 2015; 5(3): 154-159
Published online Aug 20, 2015. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v5.i3.154
Interferon-γ: Promising therapeutic target in atherosclerosis
Joe WE Moss, Dipak P Ramji
Joe WE Moss, Dipak P Ramji, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Both authors contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors do not have any conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Dipak P Ramji, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3AX, United Kingdom. ramji@Cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-29-20876753 Fax: +44-29-20874116
Received: March 17, 2015
Peer-review started: March 18, 2015
First decision: April 10, 2015
Revised: April 21, 2015
Accepted: May 7, 2015
Article in press: May 8, 2015
Published online: August 20, 2015
Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the vasculature and is the primary cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is currently the world’s leading cause of death and the numbers are predicted to rise further because of a global increase in risk factors such as diabetes and obesity. Current therapies such as statins have had a major impact in reducing mortality from CVD. However, there is a marked residual CVD risk in patients on statin therapy. It is therefore important to understand the molecular basis of this disease in detail and to develop alternative novel therapeutics. Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that is often regarded as a master regulator of atherosclerosis development. IFN-γ is able to influence several key steps during atherosclerosis development, including pro-inflammatory gene expression, the recruitment of monocytes from the blood to the activated arterial endothelium and plaque stability. This central role of IFN-γ makes it a promising therapeutic target. The purpose of this editorial is to describe the key role IFN-γ plays during atherosclerosis development, as well as discuss potential strategies to target it therapeutically.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis, Interferon-γ, Inflammation, Neutralization, MicroRNA

Core tip: Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disorder of the vasculature and studies in mouse model systems have highlighted the beneficial effects of counteracting inflammation in limiting the progression of this disease. Due to its key role in inflammation and atherosclerosis development, interferon-γ (IFN-γ) is seen as a promising therapeutic target. In this editorial we discuss the role of IFN-γ in atherosclerosis together with potential therapeutic approaches against this cytokine and its key downstream targets.