LDLR and atherosclerosis: As atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease and cytokines strongly influence disease development, we measured the plasma level of IL-1β and found significantly increased IL-1β levels in the diabetic HGHCi HFD group (5.8 pg/mL at 12 weeks; 5.6 pg/mL at 20 weeks) compared to the HCi HFD (1.9 pg/mL at 12 weeks; 1.8 pg/mL at 20 weeks) and LDLR KO HFD mice (3.5 pg/mL at 12 weeks; 2.6 pg/mL at 20 weeks) at both study time points (Figure 4A), indicating that systemic inflammation is already increased during early plaque development.