Nishino et al. show how maternal diabetes in mice leads to epigenetic changes in subsets of cardiac and pharyngeal progenitor cells, with disruption of anterior–posterior patterning and retinoic acid signaling, revealing how environmental factors can cause birth defects.

See Nishino et al.

Loescher et al. use a mouse model that enables specific cleavage of elastic titin in cardiomyocytes to dissect the contributions of various structural elements of myocardium to passive stiffness. They quantify the strain-dependent contributions from titin, actin filaments, microtubules, the sarcolemma, intermediate filaments and the extracellular matrix to both elastic and viscous forces.

See Loescher et al.

Eberhardt et al. describe how SARS-CoV-2 infects cells within human atherosclerotic lesions, triggering plaque inflammation that contributes to acute cardiovascular complications and long-term risks in patients with COVID-19.

See Eberhardt et al.

Rauch, Gopakumar et al. investigate how the two most frequently mutated genes associated with clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) accelerate the development of atherosclerosis, by using single-cell transcriptomics and multiplexed ion beam imaging (cover image), and demonstrate the emergence of a distinct macrophage population in the adventitia of diseased atheromata in CHIP.

See Rauch et al.

Barrachina et al. show that the uptake of fatty acids by the scavenger receptor CD36 and phospholipid remodeling are essential for megakaryocyte maturation and platelet production.

See Barrachina et al.

Perez-Bermejo et al. perform an in-depth study on a variant in the BAG3 gene that has been previously associated with a decreased incidence of heart failure and show that in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes engineered to express such BAG3 variant, the interaction profile of the corresponding BAG3 protein has changed, rendering the engineered cardiomyocytes more resistant to a well-known cardiotoxic drug.

See Perez-Bermejo et al.

Systems immunology-based drug repurposing identifies new anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic functions for saracatinib, a dual inhibitor of protein tyrosine kinases SRC and ABL-BCL.

See Amadori et al.

By combining whole-mount immunofluorescence of nasal mucosal tissue with single-cell transcriptomics of isolated endothelial cells, Hong et al. provide a 3D morphological and molecular atlas of nasal vasculature, identifying a new type of hybrid vessels and offering insights into the associations of nasal vasculature with inflammation, infection and aging.

See Hong et al.

Conlon and Arnold discuss the sex differences in cardiovascular physiology and pathology, the sex chromosome pathways that underlie such differences, and future studies needed to assess how the sex differences are maintained and propagated.

See Conlon and Arnold

Wang, Zhang, Lu et al. (this issue) and Depuydt, Schaftenaar et al. (previous issue) show that atherosclerosis is a bona fide T cell autoimmune disease.

See Wang et al.

Bouvain et al. develop fluorine-loaded nanotracers engineered with peptides that bind the neutrophil-specific receptor CD177 for specific and non-invasive 3D mapping of mouse and human neutrophil dynamics by whole-body MRI.

See Bouvain et al.

With great joy and excitement, we celebrate our first anniversary.