PCSK9 and Hypercholesterolemia: Motivated by the GWAS finding that a higher expression of TIE2 could protect from coronary atherosclerosis, we investigated the effect of Tie2 deletion in the arteries in mice subjected to hypercholesterolemia by systemic expression of an activated form of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (Pcsk9-D377Y) and high-fat feeding (Western diet).