UTS2 and atherosclerosis: Many studies have shown increased levels of UII and its receptor in diverse cardiovascular and metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, renal dysfunction, atherosclerosis, systematic and essential hypertension, obesity, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, cardiac fibrosis, hypertrophy, and remodeling (Reviewed in Hassan et al., 2003; Ross et al., 2010; Gruson et al., 2012).