Luciane Bittencourt Carias De Oliveira, Osvaldo Malafaia, Fernando Issamu Tabushi, Stephanie Carvalhal, Sérgio Ossamu Ioshii, Rodrigo Schuh, Laís S. Rodrigues, Thomas Horlem, Nicolau Gregori Czeczko
Introduction: Atherosclerosis is a central element in the pathogenesis of contemporary cardiovascular diseases. Atherosclerosis can be defined as a slowly progressive inflammatory process associated with several causal factors. The pathophysiological process is characterized by a complex inflammatory cascade, initiated by vascular endothelial injury, leading to vascular narrowing and hardening. Objective: To review the presence of a systemic inflammatory process through the analysis of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) markers in the inflammatory tissue manifestations in different segments of the aorta. Method: An integrative review was carried out in the PubMed and Scielo databases. The search used the following keywords: "inflammation, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, CD68, IL-6, THFa, endothelium" and their English versions. Inclusion criteria included review articles, experimental studies, and preclinical and clinical research, written in Portuguese and English and available in full text. The selected articles were analyzed based on the technologies discussed, future prospects and challenges mentioned, and diseases related to the article's central idea. Result: 63 articles were evaluated. Conclusion: Pro-inflammatory cytokines are examples of inflammatory markers with serological expression. Tissue inflammatory markers, such as CD68, the macrophage activation glycoprotein, identified through immunohistochemical analysis, can allow the assessment of the vascular inflammatory process, especially in the context of atherosclerosis.