Therefore, based on the fact that atherosclerosis is an archetypal example of a TGF-β-mediated fibrosing vascular disease of adults (20, 21), we elected to investigate how TGF-β-induced EndMT contributes to atherosclerotic plaque formation using a cell culture model in vitro and low density lipoprotein-deficient (LDLR−/−) mice fed a high fat western (HF) diet in vivo model. Here, TGFB1 is linked to atherosclerosis.