S100A8 and atherosclerosis: Although it has yet to be explored whether S100A8/A9 promotes myelopoiesis in the context of other metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors, plasma levels of S100A8/A9 are also associated with hyperlipidemia and smoking and are increased following MI, which suggests that S100A8/A9 may be, at least in part, responsible for this increase in circulating myeloid cells and could therefore contribute to plaque macrophage accumulation and atherosclerosis in these patients (Du et al., 2012; Schiopu and Cotoi, 2013).