PRKAA2 and atherosclerosis: Moreover, AMPK activates endothelial cells through the phosphatidyl inositol 3 kinase protein kinase B (PI3Kb) pathway, stimulates eNOS activation, and generates NO to further protect endothelial cells; these phenomenons play important roles in the prevention of atherosclerosis (Tousoulis et al., 2012; Xing et al., 2015; Figure 2C).