A gradual decrease was also seen in the risk of incident atherosclerosis (incident plaques, n=59 out of 259 subjects free of carotid atherosclerosis at baseline; Figure 1B) and carotid artery stenosis (advanced plaques, n=63 out of 332 subjects with preexisting carotid atherosclerosis; Figure 1C) across DKK3 tertile groups (P<0.05 each). This evidence concerns the gene DKK3 and atherosclerosis.