LDLR and atherosclerosis: Given these recent studies and the relevance of leukocytes in all stages of atherosclerosis, we investigated whether miR-146a deficiency restricted to the hematopoietic compartment can aggravate the development of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced atherosclerosis in mice deficient for the low-density lipoprotein receptor (Ldlr-/-) at early (8 weeks) and late stages (20 weeks) of disease progression.