APOE and atherosclerosis: It has been suggested that partial carotid artery ligation in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE-/-) mice prone to atherosclerosis increases oscillatory shear and the production of microRNA-712, which inhibits the tissue inhibitor of MMP-3, leading to the development of atherosclerotic plaques [70,71], which has been associated with a complete deficiency of hyaluronan [72].