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. 2020 May 31;21(11):3946. doi: 10.3390/ijms21113946

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© 2020 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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MMPs in atherosclerotic plaque. MMP-2 causes lymphocytes infiltration while MMP-2 and MMP-9 causes endothelial cells (EC) migration. MMP-7 activity leads to vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) apoptosis, contributing to plaque instability. Activated VSMCs produce high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) which affects the expression of MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-9 and enhances plaque rupture. MMP-1, MMP-8, MMP-9, MMP-12, MMP-13, and MMP-14 trigger similar effect by extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation within the fibrous cap that causes plaque rupture.