A single nucleotide polymorphism in MMP12 is associated with a reduced risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Hunninghake et al., 2009)Large artery atherosclerosis is associated with a genetic variant in the MMP12 locus and this gene is overexpressed in carotid plaques (Traylor et al., 2014)In mice deficient in Ldlr, the deletion of Mmp12 protects male mice from both arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis (Liu et al., 2019). Here, MMP12 is linked to atherosclerosis.