Cells and tissues generate and are exposed to various mechanical forces that act across a
range of scales, from tissues to cells to organelles. Forces provide crucial signals to inform …

The transcriptional co‐activators YAP (or YAP1) and TAZ (or WWTR1) are frequently
activated during the growth and progression of many solid tumors, including lung, colorectal …

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a complex inflammatory disease involving genetic
influences across cell types. Genome-wide association studies have identified over 200 loci …

The focus of this review is to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge of
molecular mechanisms/processes that control differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells …

Numerous physiological and pathological stimuli promote the rearrangement of the actin
cytoskeleton, thereby modulating cellular motile functions. Although it seems intuitively …

Rho GTPases regulate the transcription factor SRF via their ability to induce actin
polymerization. SRF activity responds to G actin, but the mechanism of this has remained …

Heterogeneity of embryological origins is a hallmark of vascular smooth muscle cells
(SMCs) and may influence the development of vascular disease. Differentiation of human …

Mutations in the lamin A/C gene (LMNA) cause dilated cardiomyopathy associated with
increased activity of ERK1/2 in the heart. We recently showed that ERK1/2 phosphorylates …

Background: Activation of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) inflammation is vital to
initiate vascular disease. The role of human-specific long noncoding RNAs in VSMC …

Background—Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are remarkably plastic. Their reversible
differentiation is required for growth and wound healing but also contributes to pathologies …