NLRC5 and atherosclerosis: To verify the biological effects of USF1/NLRC5/Smad2/3 pathway on atherosclerosis progression in vivo, SB431542 (SMAD2/3 inhibitor) was intraperitoneally injected into ApoE–/– mice, which were employed tofeed with high fat diet to establish an in vivo model for atherosclerosis.