Noncoding RNAs in vascular smooth muscle cell function and neointimal hyperplasia

Neointimal hyperplasia (NIH) is a pathological process occurring in the blood vessel wall during atherosclerosis and in‐stent restenosis (ISR). Due to the abundance of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) within neointimal lesions, VSMCs have long been considered as a key cellular target in preventing NIH. Noncoding RNA molecules such as microRNA (miRNAs), long noncoding RNA (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs) expressed in VSMCs offer unique therapeutic targets for tackling VSMC phenotype switching, proliferation, migration and apoptosis processes responsible for promoting NIH. In this review, we provide an extensive overview of VSMC RNA biology, highlighting the most recent discoveries in the field of lncRNAs and circRNAs, with the aim of identifying key molecular players that could be harnessed for future therapeutic interventions, in our quest to halt NIH in vascular disease.