APOE and atherosclerosis: In other studies on ApoE-knockout mice fed on a western diet, treatment with myriocin decreased plasma concentrations of sphingomyelin, sphinganine, cholesterol, and triglyceride with a concomitant decrease in beta-very-low-density lipoprotein (beta-VLDL) and LDL cholesterol, an increase in HDL cholesterol, a significant reduction of arterial atherosclerosis development, a reduction in the lesion and macrophage area, and the inhibition of necrotic core formation (86, 87).