PCSK9 and atherosclerosis: We also analyzed atherosclerosis progression in endothelium-specific adrenomedullin–deficient mice (Tek-CreERT2;Admfl/fl, herein referred to as EC-Adm–KO mice) (25) treated with adeno-associated virus (AAV) transducing proprotein convertase subtilisin-kexin type 9 (PCSK-9) (AAV-PCSK9) (36) to induce hypercholesterolemia (Supplemental Figure 6, A and B).