VEGFA and atherosclerosis: After vascular endothelial injury, VECs secretes vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which binds to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2(VEGFR2) on VECs to promote receptor dimerization and phosphorylation, and then activates downstream signaling pathways, which can promote the proliferation and migration of VECs, increase microvascular permeability, and promote the formation of new blood vessels in vivo, tissue adhesion, then lead to atherosclerosis (Shibuya, 2015; Karaman et al., 2018).