LPA and atherosclerosis: The in vitro and animal studies suggest that Lp(a) is important in the progression of atherosclerosis by influencing formation of foam cells, VSMC proliferation, and plaque inflammation and instability.313,314 But in individuals with high Lp(a) levels, the content of atherogenic cholesterol carried by LDL is generally much higher than carried by Lp(a).315 However, vascular dynamics studies have shown that Lp(a) accumulates preferentially in the vascular wall, which may indicate that the cholesterol carried by Lp(a) has more atherogenic potential than LDL-C.316