In order to expound the mechanism of progression and stability of atherosclerotoic plaques, the extensive study about expression imbalance and deregulation of immediate early genes (c-fos, c-jun and c-myc) and relative genes (p53, bcl-2 and c-sis) which are closely related to proliferation and apoptosis of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in atherosclerotic plaque has been made. It is pointed out that it is the proliferation and apoptosis of SMC...