CCL2 and atherosclerosis: Salidroside could prevent the progress of myocardial ischemia from the early stage, as it could reduce exacerbation of atherosclerosis in blood vessels by inhibiting plaque formation and reducing the expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM), intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), which are inflammatory mediators involved in inflammatory cascade and in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and plaque destabilization (Figure 3) (Zhang et al., 2012).