The origin of carotid atherosclerotic plaque is still under debate. Plaque progression depends on multiple mechanisms: (1) arterial beds’ heterogeneity, (2) blood - vessel hemodynamics, (3) vessel regeneration, (4) inflammation, (5) lipid accumulation, (6) apoptosis, and (7) thrombosis/angiogenesis (highly related to plaque vulnerability). Together with cell and protein analysis, the different genomic and epigenetic miRNA-mRNA axes in carotid plaques (associated with their histological patterns) can shed light on the use of novel diagnostic markers, suggestive of plaque evolution. The development of new molecular techniques (together with standard histology, digitalization and artificial intelligence) could give quantifiable information on the content of plaques as well as help clarify the processes during atherosclerosis, in order to discover novel treatment and detection methods. These mechanism impacts on the study of anti-proliferative drug coating eluted stent and their effectiveness on cellular proliferation.

This collection comprehends but is not limited to: (1) new methods to study plaque cell, protein and mRNA content (including new imaging and artificial intelligence modalities), (2) histopathological analysis extended to difficult tissue retrieval (e.g. calcified areas), and (3) quantification of angiogenesis. Certainly the development and divulgation of novel approaches relating to tissue analysis are pertinent to a vast range of pathologies and affect the clinical guidelines for diagnosis at all levels.