To address the question of whether the additional increase in LDL cholesterol (evoked by hyperglycemia in PCSK9D377Y-treated mice) is indeed responsible for increased plaque progression, one might design a study using a selective LDL-lowering therapy without an effect on hyperglycemia (e.g., by HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) in the HGHCi model. This evidence concerns the gene HMGCR and Hyperglycemia.