CCL2 and atherosclerosis: The IHC analysis showed that agomir-124 treatment significantly decreased the staining area of macrophage marker CD68 (P < 0.01; Figure 5B) and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-α, MCP-1, IL-1β, respectively and promoted the staining area of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 and TGF-β, respectively, compared with those in controls (Figure 5C), implying that miR-124 inhibited inflammatory responses during atherosclerosis development.