First, metaphase chromosome analysis and fluorescence in situ DNA hybridization (FISH) were used to determine whether LDL/cholesterol increases the levels of total and chromosome specific aneuploidy in vivo: in mice fed a high cholesterol diet and in human Niemann-Pick patients with a mutation in the NPC1 gene, which is implicated in cholesterol trafficking and atherosclerosis but has not previously been associated with a defect in chromosome segregation, although mitosis-specific epitopes have been observed in NCP1 brains [53], [54] (Figure 1,2). Here, NPC1 is linked to atherosclerosis.