miR-145 regulates the contractile VSMC phenotype and inhibits transcription factors associated with synthetic VSMCs such as Kruppel-like factor-4 (KLF4) and KLF5, and downregulation of miR-145 has been correlated with increasing atherosclerosis severity in patients and animal models of atherosclerosis (11, 12). This evidence concerns the gene KLF4 and atherosclerosis.