Victor's research shows that heart attacks may result from an inflammatory process gone awry that causes plaque in the arteries to become unstable and rupture. If medications can be developed to stop this process, he said, then perhaps heart attacks could be prevented. Victor's work is focusing on macrophages, a class of white blood cells that abound when inflammation is present in the body. Macrophages are also present in plaque, the deposits of cholesterol and other fatty substances that clog arteries and contribute to heart attacks. Every time your body is doing anything to repair itself, there's going to be remodeling.
Macrophages are part of the dissolving and rebuilding process.
Collagen forms a thick cap that keeps arterial plaque stable. When plaque tears open, however, a blood clot forms at the point of injury. This clot can block the already narrowed vessel and cut off blood flow, thus causing a heart attack. And the longer the blood flow is absent, the more damage the heart sustains. Some people don't have much plaque but their plaque is tearing open and causing heart attacks.