Background: Infection and inflammation has been reported to have causative role in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). Therfore we sought to find out the role of various inflammatory markers and infections in various forms of CAD. Methods: Since March to July, 2003, 160 patients (mean ages,56 짹 11 years [range, 31-68], 45 male) were enrolled in this study. Infalmmatory markers were hs-CRP, IL-6, CD40 ligand, RANTES and sICAM. Also, 10 different antibody titers against specific infections (Ig G and IgM antibody to Cytomegalovirus, Herpes virus, Mycoplasma Pneumoniae, Helicobacter Pylori and Ebstein Barr virus) were determined. 75 patients were diagnosed as CAD by coronary angiography. 42 variant angina patients who had no significant coronary artery disease (VA) and 43 normal control group who had found to be no significant coronary lesions or normal volunteers (Normal) were included. Results: Positivity of antibody to various infectious agents were not different between Normal, VA and CAD groups (Figure, p>0.05). Using a logistic regression analysis, factors which can differentiate normal to CAD including VA group were hypercholesterolemia, diabetus and CD40 ligand and IL-6. Factors which can differentiate VA and CAD were hypertension and CD40 ligand. hs-CRP and IL-6 level tended to be lower in Normal group without statistical significance. Conclusions: Inflammatory markers such as hs-CRP, IL-6 and CD40 ligand could give a useful infromation in clinical practice. In patients with VA, higher level of CD40 ligand was observed.