TIMP1 and atherosclerosis: Among the tissue inhibitors of MMPs evaluated in this review (i.e., TIMP-1 and TIMP-2), only TIMP-2 showed some evidence of a negative association with atherosclerosis as Pawlak et al. reported a negative association after adjusting for confounders between TIMP-2 and cIMT [39], although in a more recent study by the same group this finding was not repeated [40].