Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the arterial blood vessels enhanced by the presence of immune cells known as macrophages. Macrophages migrate to the cholesterol-rich atherosclerotic plaques that form in the blood vessels and are the central component of atherosclerotic disease. Phospholipase C (PLC) is a protein that has known importance in immune cell signaling, although no specific known function in atherosclerosis. But now, researchers have discovered that the beta-3 form of PLC plays an important role in encouraging macrophage survival within atherosclerotic plaques.