GDF15 and atherosclerosis: Kempf et al. found that GDF-15 can be induced by the expression of cardiomyocytes in the condition of ischemia reperfusion through a nitric oxide-dependent pathway, and GDF-15 can also be induced by oxidative stress caused by other cardiovascular events (such as pressure overload, heart failure, atherosclerosis, etc.), thus inhibiting the hypertrophy and structural remodeling of cardiomyocytes (18).