GDF15 and atherosclerosis: The positive association of GDF-15 with atherosclerosis-induced CVD [59,60,61] and subclinical atherosclerosis [51], and the findings that GDF-15 may act as an EC activator promoting both lesion-associated and normal angiogenesis [69] support the notion that GDF-15 could be considered as one of the potential contributors to atherosclerosis development.