BDNF and atherosclerosis: KEGG enrichment analysis also revealed pathways related to aging (cellular senescence, longevity regulating pathway-multiple species, longevity regulating pathway), apoptosis, metabolism (insulin signaling pathway, insulin signaling pathway, insulin resistance, endocrine resistance, growth hormone synthesis, lipid and atherosclerosis, fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, neurotrophin signaling pathway, adipocytokine signaling pathway), and several signaling pathways related to inflammation, apoptosis or metabolism (FoxO, MAPK, PI3K-Akt, AGE-RAGE, HIF-1, Ras, ErbB, and P53) (Fig. 1F).