Methods for treatment or prophylaxis of atherosclerosis and reperfusion injury

The invention includes a method for the treatment or prophylaxis of atherosclerosis, and/or for the treatment or prophylaxis of reperfusion injury in a subject in need of treatment by administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a complement inhibitor. The complement inhibitor may be a molecule which can inhibit activation of at least one complement component, inhibit activity of at least one activated complement component, act as an antagonist against at least one complement receptor, or combinations thereof. The complement inhibitor can be a vaccinia virus complement control protein (VCP).