APOE and atherosclerosis: To that end, in vivo studies were performed in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE-/-) mice, an insulin-deficient model that combines hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia and develops accelerated vascular injury with similarities to human atherosclerosis (Hsueh et al., 2007; Chew et al., 2010).