We hypothesized that several factors, such as high oxidized low‐density lipoprotein (ox‐LDL), may activate ADAM17 to shear membrane TIMD4 (mTIMD4) protein on the surface, resulting in a decrease of mTIMD4 and an increase of sTIMD4 in serum, and thus reduces the clearance ability of macrophages and exacerbates the progression of atherosclerosis. Here, TIMD4 is linked to atherosclerosis.