Thus, Nrf2 downregulation in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) contributes to the increased oxidative stress and vascular dysfunction observed in this model (Lopes et al., 2015); however, patients who suffer from atherosclerosis have higher levels of Nrf2/HO-1 than healthy subjects (Fiorelli et al., 2019), suggesting that Nrf2 activation is an adaptive mechanism against oxidative stress characteristic of this CVDs. Here, HMOX1 is linked to atherosclerosis.