Some medicines called statins might calm down certain immune cells in blood vessels in lab tests, which could help slow down artery clogging, but we don’t know for sure yet in people.

Statins reduce intraplaque inflammation, thereby decreasing the likelihood of atherosclerotic plaque rupture and subsequent thrombotic events.

Statins do not induce significant regression of established atherosclerotic plaque but reduce plaque progression and enhance plaque stability by lowering LDL cholesterol exposure to arterial walls.

Stronger statins seem to calm artery inflammation better than weaker ones, based on scans that show how much sugar inflamed cells are using.