Early growth response 1 （Egr-1） is involved in a variety of pathophysiological changes, including cell proliferation differentiation and apoptosis， inflammation, synthesis and degradation of extracellular matrix, and DNA repair, and so on. In recent years, accumulating evidences show that Egr-1 is over-expressed during the development of atherosclerosis. This article will review some literatures on the mechanisms of atherosclerosis involved with Egr-1.