TEK and type 2 diabetes mellitus: In accordance with our proteomic data, we found in CHD patients with comorbidities (CHD < CHD + HT + T2DM) increased aortic gene expression of NK cell-specific markers (e.g., CD244, KLRD1, NCR1), apoptotic markers (e.g., Gal1, TNFRSF21), cytokines/chemokines (e.g., TNF, CCL3, CCL4, IL12, IL8), T cell activation-associated markers (e.g., TNFRSF4, TNFRSF9, CD5, ICOSLG, CD70), and pro-angiogenic markers (e.g., AngPT1, TIE2).