Progress of Research on Drug Therapy of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease

The rapidly increasing prevalence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is an important feature of cardiovascular disease in China. Though the development of ASCVD has been known to be associated with familial inheritance, lifestyle, and dietary habit, the pathogenesis of ASCVD is still unclear. The traditional clinical intervention for ASCVD is lipid-lowering drug therapy targeting lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). In recent years, the emergence of drugs such as proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) monoclonal antibody has brought a new“ hope” to lipid-lowering treatment. Moreover, some anti-inflammatory drugs have significantly reduced the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with ASCVD in clinical trials, showing their great potential for the treatment of ASCVD. Furthermore, more and more research has clarified the pathogenesis of ASCVD from the perspective of epigenetics, and has discovered many therapeutic targets. This review describes the research progress of these drugs and related targets, in the hope of exploring new direction of clinical drug treatment for ASCVD in the future.