RESUMO
Arteriosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory vascular pathology that features a leading cause of coronary artery disease contributing to significant mortality and reduced quality of life. The recent identification of the possible role of infections in the initiation of a serious of inflammatory events represents an interesting development towards the better understanding of immune mediated vascular injury and premature atherosclerosis in patients with chronic HCV infection. A number of factors related to chronic HCV infection have been hypothesized to contribute to arteriosclerosis. The current review displays some of the aspects of interaction between the chronic viral infection, the immune system and cytokine networks and its relation to the increased risk of coronary artery disease.