Hansakon et al. (2021) reported that OPN was predominantly expressed in alveolar macrophages during Cryptococcus neoformans infection. Our data reveal that LPS upregulated the expression of OPN in circulating PBMCs. Thus, the induction of monocyte/macrophages OPN by gut microbial LPS may be associated with VSMCs proliferation during atherosclerosis progression (Hansakon et al., 2021; Roy-Chowdhury et al., 2021). Here, SPP1 is linked to atherosclerosis.