Stem cells responsible for hardened arteries?

 One of the top suspects behind killer vascular diseases is the victim of mistaken identity, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who used genetic tracing to help hunt down the real culprit. 

    The guilty party is not the smooth muscle cells within blood vessel walls, which for decades was thought to combine with cholesterol and fat that can clog arteries. Blocked vessels can eventually lead to heart attacks and strokes. 
    Instead, a previously unknown type of stem cell – a multipotent vascular stem cell – is to blame, and it should now be the focus in the search for new treatments, the scientists report in a new study appearing in Nature Communications. 
    "For the first time, we are showing evidence that vascular diseases are actually a kind of stem cell disease," said principal investigator Song Li, professor of bioengineering and a researcher at the Berkeley Stem Cell Center. 
    "This work should revolutionise therapies for vascular diseases because we now know that stem cells rather than smooth muscle cells are the correct target." 
    The finding that a stem cell population contributes to artery-hardening diseases, such as atherosclerosis, provides a promising new direction for future research, the study authors said.

An illustration showing arteriosclerosis a disease that researchers think could be attributed to stem cells