CHI3L1 and coronary artery disorder: Moreover, this study also showed that serum YKL-40 was positively linked with the Gensini score and stenosis degree in CHD patients, which could be explained by the fact that YKL-40 accelerated atherosclerotic plaque initiation and deterioration by inhibiting macrophage apoptosis, which aggravated luminal stenosis (9, 26, 27).