APOE and atherosclerosis: Furthermore, it has been shown that the activation of thermogenic adipocytes by β3-adrenergic receptor stimulation reduces cholesterol levels and protects from atherosclerosis in transgenic mice expressing both a loss-of-function variant of human apolipoprotein E (APOE*3-Leiden; E3L) and the human CETP (E3L.CETP mice) [72].