Lead contributes to arterial intimal hyperplasia through nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-mediated endothelial interleukin 8 synthesis and subsequent invasion of smooth muscle cells.

Objective: To validate the hypothesis that the toxic heavy metal lead (Pb) may be linked to cardiovascular diseases via the initiation of atherosclerosis, in vivo and in vitro studies were conducted.

Methods And Results: During the human study part of this project, serum Pb levels of healthy young women were correlated to carotid intima-media thickness. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that increased serum Pb levels were significantly associated with an increased intima-media thickness (P=0.