MTOR and atherosclerosis: These could involve exploring HSD’s impact on the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, which plays an important role in thyroid cell survival and functionality (Kenessey and Ojamaa et al., 2006), and the AMPK pathway, which regulates energy metabolism, reduces lipid accumulation in arteries, and helps prevent atherosclerosis (Heidary Moghaddam et al., 2021).