CDH5 and atherosclerosis: To study the role of endothelial Dicer in atherosclerosis, we generated Apoe−/− mice containing a loxP site-flanked Dicer sequence (Dicerflox) and a transgene with Tamoxifen (TMX) inducible Cre recombinase under control of the EC-specific VE-cadherin (Cdh5) promoter.