SMANTIS and atherosclerosis: Knocking out MANTIS with LNA-GapmeRs led to the downregulation of key endothelial genes important for angiogenesis including SOX18, SMAD6, and COUP-TFII, and the upregulation of stress-induced genes contributory to atherosclerosis such as interleukin 6 (IL-6) and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2). Genes in proximity to the MANTIS locus in the genome were not influenced by the MANTIS knockout, suggesting that it acts in a trans- rather than cis-regulatory manner.