Given the indications of MI in long-term high-fat-fed Apoe−/− mice (Fig. 2) alongside the prevalence of highly stenotic coronary atherosclerosis (Figs. 2, 3, 4), cardiac fibrosis was investigated as a surrogate marker of MI, secondary to unstable coronary artery atherosclerosis. This evidence concerns the gene APOE and coronary atherosclerosis.