The purpose of this study was to examine the secretion of inflammatory cytokines by cultured monocytes/macrophages in patients with premature coronary artery disease (CAD). The study included 38 patients with premature CAD and 35 patients without CAD. A primary culture of CD14+ monocytes was obtained by immunomagnetic separation. The inflammatory response was induced by incubation of a cell culture with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 hours on Days 1 and 6. Basal and LPS-stimulated secretion of the cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) was assessed by enzyme immunoassay on Days 2 and 7 of cultivation. The level of basal secretion of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, MCP-1 was higher in patients with CAD compared to patients in the control group. The levels of re-stimulated TNF-α secretion and the levels of LPS-stimulated and re-stimulated IL-1β secretion on the second and sixth days were also higher in patients with CAD. LPS-stimulated MCP-1 secretion on the second day did not differ in patients of both groups, but re-stimulated MCP-1 secretion was higher in patients with CAD. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the basal secretion levels of IL-1β and IL-6 were independently associated with premature CAD, along with smoking, body mass index and serum HDL-cholesterol levels.