IL6 and atherosclerosis: Additionally, 12 weeks of swimming exercise in ApoE−/− mice resulted in attenuated weight gain, improved arterial structural integrity, and reduced atherosclerotic lesion burden, accompanied by decreased serum concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), TG, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and interleukin-6 (IL-6), collectively mitigating the progression of atherosclerosis (Li et al., 2020a).