Interestingly, further pathway enrichment analysis of the various gene associated DMRs (Supplementary Table 3), identified significant (P < 0.05) enrichment of cadherin and integrin dependent cell adhesion, chemotaxis, cytoskeletal reorganisations, cell cycle and cell death responses, nongenomic estrogen receptor pathways, immune phagocytosis, all of which are critically involved in atherosclerosis (Fig. 4 and Supplementary Table 4). Here, ESR1 is linked to atherosclerosis.