CXCL12 and myocardial infarction: Interestingly, recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) revealed CXCL12 as an important candidate gene associated with CAD and myocardial infarction (MI), but the underlying mechanisms remain totally unclear (Burton et al., 2007; Samani et al., 2007; Kathiresan et al., 2009; Farouk et al., 2010; Schunkert et al., 2011) (Box 4).