Such an immunotherapy could especially help patients who already have plaque in their coronary arteries and remain at high risk of heart attack even if they’re able to achieve low cholesterol levels in the blood.

The study is published in the journal Science.

The novel therapy uses a synthetic antibody—a type of lab-generated protein—to destroy a harmful type of cell located within blood vessel walls that plays a central role in driving inflammation and dangerous plaque formation in the arteries of the human heart. These cells directly contribute to coronary artery disease, in which atherosclerotic plaque builds up in the arteries that feed blood to the heart.