Measurement of cytokines and proteases in the supernatants of HAoSMCs confirmed that inflammatory mediators, such as CXCL8, IL-6, IL-1β, and IL-1α and proteases, such as MMP-10 [role in atherosclerosis and vascular calcification (Purroy et al. 2018)], were produced and released by HAoSMCs upon aging in vitro. Here, IL6 is linked to atherosclerosis.