CD44 and infection: However, mice infected with F. nucleatum had more extracellular matrix and cell adhesion molecules down-regulated than either previous studies at 24 weeks, including CD44, Col3a1a, Eln, Itga5, Klf2, Mmp3 and Thbs4. This may inhibit significant inflammatory cell infiltration of the aortic vessel and thereby reduce the inflammatory processes that contribute to atherosclerotic plaque development, and is a possible explanation for the significantly reduced numbers of T cells detected throughout the aortic vessel at 24 weeks of infection relative to 12 weeks.