NOX4 and atherosclerosis: However, it has been found that Nox4 mediates protective effects in pathological stress situations, such as chronic hemodynamic overload or nutrient starvation in the heart (Zhang et al., 2010; Sciarretta et al., 2013) and angiotensin II-induced remodelling or atherosclerosis in the vasculature (Craige et al., 2015; Schröder et al., 2012; Schürmann et al., 2015).