Dysregulation of TGF-β superfamily signaling pathways is associated with several human disease states including atherosclerosis (Grainger et al., 1995; Mallat et al., 2001; Cipollone et al., 2004), hypertension (Zacchigna et al., 2006) and restenosis (Majesky et al., 1991; Nikol et al., 1992; Ward et al., 1997; Mallawaarachchi et al., 2005; Xie et al., 2019). This evidence concerns the gene TGFB1 and atherosclerosis.