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REVIEW article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Atherosclerosis and Vascular Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1550930
The cGAS-STING pathway in atherosclerosis
Provisionally accepted- 1Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China
- 2First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
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Atherosclerosis (AS), a chronic inflammatory disease, remains a leading contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Recent studies highlight the critical role of the cGAS-STING pathway-a key innate immune signaling cascade-in driving AS progression. This pathway is activated by cytoplasmic DNA from damaged cells, thereby triggering inflammation and accelerating plaque formation. While risk factors such as aging, obesity, smoking, hypertension, and diabetes are known to exacerbate AS, emerging evidence suggests that these factors may also enhance cGAS-STING pathway, which amplifies inflammatory responses. Targeting this pathway offers a promising therapeutic strategy to reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of the cGAS-STING pathway, explore its role in AS, and evaluate potential inhibitors as future therapeutic candidates. By integrating current knowledge, we aim to provide insights for developing novel treatments to mitigate AS and CVD burden.
Keywords: Atherosclerosis, cGAS-STING pathway, Risk factors, Therapeutic potential, cGAS inhibitors, STING inhibitors
Received: 24 Dec 2024; Accepted: 09 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Chen, Jin and Bilal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yushan Chen, First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.