Studies also demonstrate that GDF-15 plays a crucial role in advancing atherosclerotic lesions by modifying apoptotic cell death and interleukin-6-dependent inflammatory responses that result from vascular injury (36), implying that GDF-15 contributes to both the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis due to its central role as a pro-inflammatory cytokine (35). Here, IL6 is linked to atherosclerosis.