LDLR and atherosclerosis: Endothelial dysfunction is an early marker of atherosclerosis, with increased expression of adhesion molecules found on the surface of endothelial cells.36,37 The endothelium is also involved in certain cardioprotective manoeuvres.38–40 We therefore investigated ICAM-1 protein, a marker of endothelial dysfunction, and found it was increased in hearts from DM mice but not hearts from Ldlr KO mice, after 6-week HFD (Figure 1H and I).