Role of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Cardiovascular Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), a main component of the vessel wall, are essential to vascular function. Physiologically, VSMCs control vascular tone and diameter, respond to biomechanical forces initiated by hemodynamic changes and participate in determining vascular wall stiffness. VSMCs are not terminally differentiated and undergo phenotypic switching under pathological conditions, which is a component of many cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, stroke, myocardial infarction, and peripheral artery disease (PAD). Plasticity of VSMCs is necessary for vascular development and response to injury, but simultaneously implies susceptibility to vascular disease. With various stimuli, including endothelial injury, growth factors and altered metabolic function, VSMCs can dedifferentiate into a more proliferative, synthetic phenotype, and even transdifferentiate into macrophage-like, adipocyte-like or osteoblast-like cells. It is widely accepted that modulation, migration, proliferation and phenotypic switching of VSMCs play a role in a wide array of vascular diseases. Current treatments for vascular disease target lipid accumulation but fail to comprehensively account for the extensive role VSMCs play in disease formation and progression. In this Special Issue, we aim to highlight recent developments and advances in the understanding of how VSMCs function in cardiovascular disease progression mechanistically, molecularly, and cellularly. We welcome original and review articles that address VSMC pathophysiology in various contexts.

Dr. Alejandra San Martin
Guest Editor
Claire Holden 
Guest Editor Assistant

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