The phosphorylation of STAT1 and STAT3 were significantly higher in B cells incubated with CD4<sup>+</sup>CXCR5<sup>+</sup> T cells from CAD than controls.
Moreover, using data mining of human plaque transcriptomes, expression of a selection of these STAT1-dependent pro-atherogenic genes was found to be increased in coronary artery disease (CAD) and carotid atherosclerosis.
Lymphoblastoid cell lines homozygous for the CAD risk haplotype show no binding of STAT1, and in lymphoblastoid cell lines homozygous for the CAD non-risk haplotype, binding of STAT1 inhibits CDKN2BAS (also known as CDKN2B-AS1) expression, which is reversed by short interfering RNA knockdown of STAT1.