Thus, we investigated the density of APG5L/ATG+ cells in atherosclerotic lesions in the PT after 20 weeks of CED and found that the percentage of APG5L/ATG+ cells was 17.1% lower, whereas density of TUNEL+ cells was significantly (p < 0.05) 32.9% higher in GDF-15−/−ApoE−/− than in ApoE−/− mice (Fig. 5A-D). Here, ATG5 is linked to cranioectodermal dysplasia.