Epigenetic Regulations in Vascular Cells, Disease, and Therapeutic Targeting

At the core of vascular diseases lies a critical process: cells undergo phenotypic transitions driven by epigenetic remodeling. In this process, cells shift from their original functions to adopt pathogenic behaviors, orchestrated by epigenetic players. These include modifiers of histone, DNA, and RNA along with non-coding RNAs and metabolites, which crosstalk and fine-tune gene regulation. Recent years have witnessed a profound shift in our comprehension of these factors. Once regarded as global regulators of gene expression, they are now recognized for their remarkable context-specific nature, and many have become actionable targets with pharmaceutic potential. However, a major barrier for clinical translation is inadequate understanding of the epigenetic and signaling mechanisms.

This Research Topic seeks to harness the full potential of vascular epigenetics for understanding and tackling vascular diseases. It spans a broad spectrum, encompassing fundamental basic science and translational medicine.

The scope covers vascular research topics that involve epigenetic players, including writers, readers, and erasers of chemical marks on histone, DNA, and RNA, non-coding RNAs (miRNAs, lncRNA, circular RNA, snoRNA, tsRNA etc.), and metabolites that alter chromatin marking.

We welcome manuscripts such as research articles or reviews.