Disclosed and claimed are compositions and methods for therapy and / or prevention of
restenosis and / or atherosclerosis. The compositions can include an agent for decreasing
viral load of cytomegalovirus, such as an immunological composition or vaccine against cytomegalovirus (CMV) containing at least one
epitope of interest of CMV and / or an expression
system which expresses at least one
epitope of interest of CMV. Such compositions can include at least one
epitope of p53. Alternatively, the compositions can include at least one epitope of p53 and / or an expression
system which expresses the epitope. The methods can include administering the compositions to a patient in need of such therapy and / or prevention. Additionally, compositions and methods for diagnosing atherosclerosis and / or
restenosis, or susceptibility thereto, including screening a sample from a patient for antibodies to CMV and / or CMV proteins and / or screening a sample from a patient for specific viral proteins that predict whether the
virus has been reactivated and / or antibodies thereto and / or detecting whether CMV
nucleic acid, e.g., mRNA is present in
peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs) and / or detecting a cellular-mediated immune response to CMV peptides or proteins is present and / or HLA phenotyping and / or
HLA genotyping. Embodiements can include a
skin test.