Among the mechanisms involved in the beneficial effects on cardiovascular system, in vitro models demonstrated that homovanillyl alcohol was able to inhibit cell surface expression in endothelial HUVEC cells of E-selectin, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 adhesion molecules, which are crucial for endothelial activation and therefore for the onset of atherosclerosis, whereas the effect on mRNA expression was evident only for E-selectin [77]. The gene discussed is SELE; the disease is atherosclerosis.