Coronary artery smooth muscle cell (CASMC)

Coronary artery smooth muscle cells (CASMCs) are specialized muscle cells within the wall of coronary arteries. They are responsible for regulating vessel tone, maintaining vessel integrity, and facilitating blood flow to cardiac tissue. CASMCs exhibit remarkable plasticity: they can switch between a contractile phenotype (maintaining vessel tone) and a synthetic or proliferative phenotype, which produces extracellular matrix proteins and contributes to vascular remodeling. In cardiovascular disease, especially atherosclerosis, these cells participate in plaque formation by proliferating, migrating, undergoing phenotypic switching, and, in advanced plaques, forming foam cells after lipid uptake. While they are not themselves drug targets, various molecular components and pathways within CASMCs (such as scavenger receptors, cytokine receptors, and signaling regulators) are therapeutically targeted in cardiovascular disease management[2][3][4][6][8].

Other names

Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC)Arterial smooth muscle cellCASMC

null for the cell, but in context: Inhibition of VSMC proliferation / migration (by targeting pathways such as PDGFR, Notch, etc.); Modulation of phenotype switch (e.g., statins’ indirect effects); Modulation of inflammation (targeting cytokine receptors, scavenger receptors, or signaling mediators in VSMCs)[2][4][6]