The Fourteenth Washington International Spring Symposium, held in Washington, D.C., in June 1994, brought together over 400 leading scientists from 21 countries to review and update research on cardiovascular disease. This group satisfied the symposium goals of formulating a more comprehensive and integrated picture of the events contributing to atherosclerosis and of exploring modified gene expression as an to understanding the causes of atherosclerosis and providing clues to the approach prevention and treatment. This volume contains most of the papers presented at the eight plenary sessions together with selected contributions from the special sessions. The multidisciplinary nature of the chapters and their authors should stimulate the interests of biochemists, cell and molecular biologists, pathologists, pharmacologists, epidemiologists, nutritionists, and clinicians. The volume is divided into eight sections which reflect the focus of the plenary sessions. Part I focuses on the pathophysiology of atherosclerotic plaques and predicts that the nature of the fibrous cap of atheroma determines plaque disruption and clinical events. Papers in Part II deal with atherogenic lipoproteins. The introductory paper reviews the current view of the role of plasma lipoproteins in atherosclerosis. With respect to the newer members on the list,: [oxidized LDL, Lp(a)] evidence is provided that suggests the involvement of one major gene in the development of oxidized LDL lipids. the expression of inflammatory genes, and the development of aortic fatty streaks.