Treating dyslipidemias: is inflammation the missing link?

Low-grade chronic inflammation is now being held as an important process in the development of atherosclerosis, with new links between dyslipidemia and inflammation being constantly found. While most studies aim to discover inflammatory pathways leading from dyslipidemia to atherogenesis, there is evidence that inflammation can also act in reverse, altering lipid metabolism in unfavorable ways, possibly creating a vicious cycle of inflammationdyslipidemia- inflammation. This is highly relevant for the search of novel therapeutic targets. In this review, after a brief account of the inflammatory mechanisms leading from dyslipidemia to atherogenesis, we focus on what is currently known about the ways inflammation can impair lipid metabolism and whether anti-inflammatory therapies could have a role in dyslipidemia management.