New Tools for Precision Targeting of Origin-Specific Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Using Intersectional Genetics.

Abstract

Intersectional genetics is an advanced dual recombinase technology developed to gain more precision in cell fate mapping and gene function analysis <i>in vivo</i>. It relies on overlapping expression patterns of a pair of site-specific DNA recombinases, Cre and Dre, to gain high-resolution targeting of specific cell populations. In this issue of <i>Circulation</i>, Han et al report the application of intersectional genetics to target four SMC subtypes residing in different segments of disease-prone arteries. The innovative new tools generated and the precision targeting results obtained suggest a powerful new experimental approach is available to test the possibility that the regional distribution of vascular disease has a developmental basis <i>in vivo</i>.