VCL and atherosclerosis: There are a variety of molecules associated with focal adhesion, such as focal adhesion kinase (FAK), integrin, talin, and vinculin, and their activities are related to the development of hypertension (Sugimura et al., 2010; Sen et al., 2011; Jia et al., 2017), atherosclerosis (von Essen et al., 2016; Murphy et al., 2019), and thrombosis (Hitchcock et al., 2008), contributing to the progression of AIS.