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  • Year in Review
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Atherosclerosis in 2016

Advances in new therapeutic targets for atherosclerosis

In 2016, advances in atherosclerosis research were focused on the discovery and validation of new targets with genetic and mechanistic links to atherothrombotic heart disease. Novel targets include proteins involved in glycoprotein recognition and clearance, regulators of triglyceride-rich particle metabolism, inflammatory pathways that impair efferocytosis, and the gut microbiome.

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Figure 1: Newly discovered mechanistic pathways leading to development and progression of atherosclerosis.

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Acknowledgements

W.H.W.T. and S.L.H. are supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Office of Dietary Supplements (R01HL103866, P20HL113452, R01DK106000, R01HL126827).

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Correspondence to Stanley L. Hazen.

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Competing interests

S.L.H. is named as inventor on pending patents held by the Cleveland Clinic relating to cardiovascular diagnostics and therapeutics. He is also a paid consultant for Esperion and P&G, and has received research funds from Astra Zeneca, P&G, Pfizer Inc., Roche Diagnostics, and Takeda. S.L.H. has also received royalty payments for inventions or discoveries related to cardiovascular diagnostics or therapeutics from Cleveland HeartLab, Esperion, Frantz Biomarkers, LLC, and Siemens. W.H.W.T. declares no competing interests.

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Tang, W., Hazen, S. Advances in new therapeutic targets for atherosclerosis. Nat Rev Cardiol 14, 71–72 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2016.216

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