1997; Cai and Harrison 2000; Fukumura et al. 2001). Interestingly, several studies have shown that these pathologies are associated with an increase, rather than decrease, in eNOS expression (Li et al. 2002). The association between enhanced eNOS expression and cardiovascular pathophysiology was confirmed in a mouse model with hyperexpression of eNOS, which when exposed to hypercholesterolemia manifests accelerated atherosclerosis (Ozaki et al. 2002). The gene discussed is NOS3; the disease is familial hypercholesterolemia.