Macrophages.

Thanks to major advances in cellular and molecular biology, our understanding of the origins, heterogeneity, and functions of monocytes and macrophages, both in health and disease, is evolving at a considerable pace. Only during the past 2 years, new monocyte and dendritic cell subsets have been identified; essential transcriptional and epigenetic regulators of monocyte and tissue macrophage specification and maintenance have been uncovered; and an old concept of phenotypic transition of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to phagocytic macrophage-like cells has gained better understanding at the molecular level. The diverse roles of monocytes and macrophages in cardiovascular diseases have been highlighted in several interesting reviews published in ATVB, which addressed their origins, fates, and regulation in diverse settings such as atherosclerosis and associated cardiometabolic disorders, aortic aneurysm, and postschemic myocardial injury. Here, I summarize recent original work in those areas published in ATVB during the past 2 years.