Abstract:Atherosclerosis, which takes place in the walls of arteries, is a long-term progressive inflammatory pathological process. The rupture of atherosclerotic plaque and thus thrombosis may lead to acute cardiovascular events which threaten human health and life seriously. Recently, the role of neutrophils in atherosclerosis is attractted much attention.Activated neutrophils release web-like structures known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). NETs affect the pathologic process in the patients with autoimmune diseases, acute lung injury, deep vein thrombosis, etc. A large number of studies indicate that NETs is associated with the formation of atherosclerosis and thrombosis. NETs, which act as predictive factors in coronary artery diseases, predict the major adverse cardiac events and the prognosis. This article is aimed to review the role of neutrophil extracellular traps in the development of atherosclerosis.